No matter the outcome of the special election for the East Bay s 18th Assembly District seat, one thing is now guaranteed. A woman of color is set to represent Alameda, San Leandro, and a portion of Oakland in the California Legislature come September.
The winner will bring the number of female Bay Area state lawmakers up to five, as the rest of the 23 legislative seats that circle the region are held by men. And should social justice attorney Janani Ramachandran be elected, she will be the first LGBTQ state legislator from the East Bay.
Ramachandran, 29, would also be the first legislator who identifies as queer and first out API female state legislator. Of South Indian ancestry, she would also be California s first South Asian assemblywoman.
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The two gay Democrats who failed to advance past Tuesday s special election for the East Bay s 18th Assembly District seat have both endorsed their former queer opponent Janani Ramachandran. She is headed to the August 31 runoff race for the legislative seat that covers Alameda, San Leandro, and a portion of Oakland.
Ramachandran, 29, a social justice attorney who also identifies as lesbian, continues to hold the second-place spot among the eight candidates who sought the Alameda County seat. Based on the updated vote count released Thursday at 4:39 p.m., she now has 14,006 votes, or 23.65% of the ballots counted. On election night she had 9,303 votes.
Despite a low voter turnout for the special election in Californiaâs 18
th Assembly District to replace newly appointed Attorney General Rob Bonta, Indian American Janani Ramachandran managed to get enough of the vote in the June 29 primary election to advance to a special election runoff next month.
According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters website, Ramachandran received 9,303 votes for 21.57 percent, finishing second in the eight-candidate race, behind Bontaâs wife, Mia Bonta.
In attempting to replace her husband, Bonta garnered 16,228 votes for 37.62 percent, winning the primary convincingly, but not enough to win the seat outright on June 29.
Bonta would have needed 50 percent of the vote to avoid a special election runoff Aug. 31. Now, with all 156 precincts reporting, the top two vote-getters, Bonta and Ramachandran, will face off against each other for the seat.