Earlier on this blog, I posted a quick rundown of the candidates who were rumored to be running for Oakland City Council and City Attorney. Now campaign season has hit full swing. The Oakland Chamber of Commerce has announced a series of debates in the weeks ahead. 

It is going to be a seismic year. Many of the City Council seats lack an incumbent.  There is a possible face-off between two incumbents vying for the At-Large seat.  There is also an interesting City Attorney race. 

All events are free and will begin at 6:30pm with doors opening to the public at 6pm. Debates will feature formal Q&A with a moderator and written questions from the audience.  For those unable to attend, the Chamber staff will live tweet at #OakDebates (and encourages others to do so).

Ranked choice voting requires that we all do our homework.  It’s more important than ever to kick the tires on ALL the candidates and identify our top choices.  No better way to do that than to eyeball them and hear what they have to say on issues that matter to us (Jobs? Crime? Education?)

Here’s the schedule as announced this week by the Chamber.

The first debate will be between the two candidates for City Attorney.  It will be co-hosted with the League of Women Voters.  The details are as follows:

City Attorney Debate
Tuesday, August 21 – 6:30 PM (doors open at 6)
Waterfont Hotel in Jack London Square

The debates will move to the districts and be hosted exclusively by the Chamber.  The schedule of debates will be as follows:

District Three

Wednesday, Aug. 22 – 6:30 PM

Z Cafe - 27th & Broadway

District One

Monday, Aug. 27 – 6:30 PM

College Avenue Presbyterian Church, 5951 College Ave.

District Five

Tuesday, Aug. 28 – 6:30 PM

Fruitvale-San Antonio Senior Center, 3301 E. 12th St.

At-Large
Wednesday, Aug. 29 – 6:30 PM
Kaiser Auditorium - 300 Lakeside Drive

Please try to attend or follow on Twitter at #OakDebates.  

For more information on the events or to guarantee your seat at the debate, please contact Paul Junge or Amanda Medina at the Chamber pjunge@oaklandchamber.com or amedina@oaklandchamber.com or by phone (510) 874-4800.