Berkeley Councilmember Igor Tregub will face business owner and policy professional Majdi Gaith Abuhamdieh in the Nov. 3 election for the District 4 seat.
Igor Tregub
Tregub has represented the district, which includes downtown Berkeley and parts of central and north Berkeley, since 2024, when he won a special election prompted by his predecessor, Kate Harrison, resigning in the middle of her term.
He has served on the city’s Behavioral Health Commission, the AC Transit Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, the Rent Stabilization Board and the Berkeley Housing Advisory Commission, according to his candidate statement.
He has also served on the City Council’s Health, Life Enrichment Equity and Community Policy Committee and the Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee.
On his campaign website, Tregub has highlighted the reopening of Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park and securing affordable housing in downtown Berkeley as among his main achievements.
“We must continue to advance homeownership opportunities and rentals that hardworking residents can afford, help the unhoused find the supportive housing and wraparound services they deserve, and implement safer, climate-resilient infrastructure,” Tregub said in his candidate statement.
An immigrant from Ukraine, Tregub is also committed to bringing distributed solar energy and battery storage to his home country, according to his campaign website.
U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland; Rep. Aisha Wahab, D-Castro Valley; state Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland; Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland; Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii; and councilmembers Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, Shoshana O’Keefe, Brent Blackaby, Cecilia Lunaparra, Mark Humbert and Rashi Kesarwani have endorsed Tregub’s candidacy.
Majdi Gaith Abuhamdieh
Challenging Tregub is Majdi Gaith Abuhamdieh, the co-founder of a coffee roasting and bakery business in Berkeley. On his campaign website, he describes himself as a trust and safety policy professional. He has also served on the city’s Peace and Justice Commission.
If elected, his priorities would include revitalizing downtown and other commercial corridors in District 4, strengthening tenant protections and expanding housing, according to his candidate statement.
A dual-citizen Palestinian American originally from the West Bank, Abuhamdieh has also publicly taken a zero-tolerance stance against the use of mass surveillance technology, such as automated license plate reader cameras, in Berkeley.
“I am building a multicultural, multifaith, and multigenerational coalition because Berkeley is strongest when people from every background and generation work together,” he said in his candidate statement.
Berkeley councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Cheryl Davila, and Emeryville Councilmember Kalimah Priforce, have endorsed Abuhamdieh’s candidacy.