Rebecca Kaplan was born in Ontario, Canada and grew up living with a universal healthcare system, in a family and community which encouraged her to fight for the rights of workers.  Stories about the history of worker abuses and the fight for worker rights, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, as well as people giving their lives for social justice, such as the murder of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were part of Rebecca's upbringing and inform her values.

Rebecca attended MIT as an undergraduate, where she was actively involved in organizing for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, LGBT equality, and part of the successful effort to get her campus to divest from apartheid-era South Africa.  She volunteered on the re-election campaign of Senator Kennedy and worked for the City of Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women. Rebecca obtained her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she had the opportunity to learn from teachers like Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow) and became involved in advocacy for prisoner rights and against mass incarceration.  She worked in Oakland as a tenant’s rights attorney and advocate and helped pass “Just Cause for Eviction” on the ballot.  She served for over seven years on the AC Transit Board of Directors, an elected position, and expanded late night bus service, opposed outsourcing, expanded bike-transit connections, solar power, and sustainable fuel initiatives.

Rebecca now serves as Oakland’s citywide elected Councilmember, elected November 2008, and was unanimously selected by her colleagues to be President of the Oakland City Council in January 2019 and unanimously selected to be Vice Mayor in 2021.  Rebecca serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission, which represents all the local government agencies and transit providers in the Bay Area.  She led her colleagues in successfully passing the 2019-2021 budget with increased investments to combat the homeless crisis, create and preserve affordable housing, maintain Oakland's parks, and tackle illegal blight remediation.  The budget also restored cuts to Parks Maintenance positions and increased funding around police accountability and workforce development. Kaplan is Oakland's first openly-LGBT elected official and has successfully fought for support for LGBT youth programs, to end discriminatory laws, and to support community leadership in boards, commissions, and community-based organizations.

Lena Tam was elected to the Alameda City Council, serving as vice-mayor from 2006-2014. She also served on the Alameda County Planning Commission and was elected as President of the Alameda Healthcare District, which governs Alameda Hospital. She has served on the Board of the American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters, Friends of the Park, the Alameda Hospital Foundation, and the Alameda County Asian Pacific Democratic Caucus.

Lena is a licensed civil and environmental engineer and works for the East Bay Municipal Utility District as the Manager of Water Resources Planning. She manages a team of engineers, scientists and administrative staff to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for 1.4 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her team addresses issues such as climate change, urban water management plan, safety of dam and long term water supply planning and computer modeling.

Lena earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from U.C. Berkeley and her Master in Public Administration of the University of San Francisco.

Some of Lena Tam’s major accomplishments during her term on the City Council include: 

• Initiating one of the Bay Area's largest renewable energy projects — a landfill gas-to-energy station that will produce 12 megawatts of power at a constant rate — enough renewable energy to power some 11,900 average-sized homes in the two cities. Alameda owns and operates a municipal power company which purchases 85 percent of its power from renewable energy resources.
• Passing a “Green Building” ordinances and bans on Styrofoam products for the City of Alameda.
• Diverting 75 percent of all waste generated in Alameda from landfills before 2010.   Alameda partners with Alameda County Industries and local businesses to exceed the goal of recycling paper and green waste products.
• Directing aggressive policies on the clean up of Alameda Point (formerly Naval Air Station Alameda), comprising 2800 acres, 1/3 of the city's area.  This conversion of a former military base is being developed as an important source of new businesses, jobs, housing, recreational facilities, community and cultural services.

o   Establishing general plans to devote a significant portion of Alameda to parks, shoreline, marinas and beaches.

As your Supervisor, I will work to protect our communities from the effects of climate change and reduce lung-damaging air pollution. I will support healthcare services, including our community clinics. At a time when many, especially in the Asian-American community, are afraid to walk in the streets, I will provide the resources needed to keep us safe. And most importantly, I will work to build more affordable housing and strengthen programs that help our unhoused neighbors get back on their feet.

As a resident of District 3 for over 50 years, I will make Alameda County healthier, safer, and more resilient.

I have focused my career on serving residents. As the Vice-Mayor of the City of Alameda, I secured housing for low-income seniors and established Alameda’s Open Government Commission to bring transparency to the city. As the elected President of the City of Alameda Health Care District, I succeeded in keeping Alameda Hospital open with emergency services. I approved 2,400 new transit-oriented housing units as Chair of the Alameda County Planning Commission while preserving open space in unincorporated areas. As the Water Resources Planning Manager at East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), I develop the East Bay’s climate resilience and emergency action plans.