Senator Nancy Skinner wins a second term

Incumbent Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has easily won a second term as senator for California’s Ninth District, according to the latest numbers from Contra Costa County and Alameda County.

Skinner received about 85 percent of the votes in Contra Costa County in the Nov. 3 election, defeating Libertarian candidate Jamie Dluzak, who received over 14 percent of the votes. Contra Costa still has an estimated 70,000 mail-in ballots left to count.

In Alameda County, Skinner received more than 90 percent of the vote, with Dluzak winning a little over 9 percent of the votes, according to the most recent update.

Skinner was first elected in 2016, representing District 9, which includes more than a dozen East Bay communities including Richmond. She became known as a climate and environmental advocate, supporting several measures that have expanded the usage of solar and renewable energy. She has also helped lead a project called Cities for Climate Change for the past 20 years, helping East Bay cities develop plans and targets for greenhouse gas reduction. 

“I’m very proud of that work,” she said recently, referring to her past accomplishments.

In prior campaign statements, Skinner had said she wanted to continue pursuing bills that will assist her district’s homeless population, like SB 1015. The bill aims to keep state funding coming in for preventative homeless services such as rent for families experiencing housing insecurity. She also hopes to push for bills that will lower the use of greenhouse gas and increase California’s carbon dioxide storage capacity to remove it from the air.

This election, she supported Prop. 24 which asked voters to increase consumer privacy. With 72 percent of the precincts reporting, the proposition is ahead with 56.1 percent of voters saying yes.

“We deserve the choice to protect our own personal information and the tools to do so,” Skinner had said in a pre-election statement. “Prop. 24 does exactly that, it gives Californians the strongest protections in the nation over our own private data, and a real enforcement arm to hold corporations that violate our fundamental privacy rights accountable.”

“Nancy Skinner strikes me as an old-school social democrat, I really love her focus on climate and housing issues, and her proposals to tax the rich,” says Oakland resident James Medlock, who had been showing her support on Twitter.

Skinner was endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. She was also backed by the California Federation of Teachers, the California Labor Federation and California Professional Firefighters among others. 

She began her political career in 1984, while she was still a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, becoming the first and only student elected to the Berkeley City Council. As a student, Skinner led the university’s South Africa Divestment campaign and helped to form a labor union for teaching assistants.

(This story will be updated as developments occur)