The race for Oakland’s District 7 City Council seat still appeared tight, with candidate Ken Houston ahead.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voter’s numbers released at 3 p.m. on Monday showed Houston ahead of the pack with 4,504 votes or 52.4% of the total vote, followed by Iris Merriouns at 47.6% in the third round of ranked-choice voting.
Houston previously ran for mayor and has served as executive director of the city’s Beautification Council for 10 years. He ran on issues such as blight, decreasing gun violence, and addressing homelessness.
Merriouns is District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran’s chief of staff and has served as chief of staff for Oakland councilmembers for 25 years. She ran on reducing violent crime, affordable housing and boosting economic development.
District 7 is one of Oakland’s most diverse, with broad ranges of cultures and income. It covers the shoreline and San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, the city’s industrial core in East Oakland, and goes up to the Oakland hills.
The District 7 seat has been held by Treva Reid, who decided not to run for reelection.