Edward Wright (California)
Edward Wright is a member of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors in California, representing District 9. He assumed office on November 29, 2024. His current term ends on November 24, 2028.
Wright ran for election to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors to represent District 9 in California. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Wright completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Edward Wright earned a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University in 2014. His career experience includes working in transportation.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: City elections in San Francisco, California (2024)
General election
General election for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors District 9
Edward Wright defeated Joe Sangirardi and Michael Petrelis in the general election for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors District 9 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Edward Wright (Nonpartisan)  | 63.1 | 86,966 |
 | Joe Sangirardi (Nonpartisan) | 36.9 | 50,905 | |
 | Michael Petrelis (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 16 | |
| Total votes: 137,887 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Wright's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wright in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released October 7, 2024 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Edward Wright completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wright's responses.
| Collapse all
• Expanding paid leave and job security for hundreds of thousands of essential workers • Providing critical oversight for dozens of public transit projects and programs • Spearheading the creation of the car-free Great Highway Park • Helping write and pass the strongest dark money disclosure law in the nation • Securing critical funding for climate action in the City budget • Organizing a 12-hour sit-in to cancel the only ICE contract in the Bay Area • Writing legislation that established the first-ever LGBTQ Cultural District in Oakland
I work as a transit advisor for Muni, where I work every day on solving the problems public transit is facing. I’m the only candidate in this race with experience in public transit, public policy, and public budgets, which are the BART Board’s core responsibilities.
This system and this city have given me so much, and this is how I can give back — by putting my experience to work to ensure BART not only survives, but thrives.- BART needs to be fully funded to protect and expand service. The easiest way to close BART's looming fiscal crisis is by rebuilding ridership, and that starts by making the system safer and cleaner, more affordable and accessible, and more vibrant and welcoming. Creating tianguis, markets, or mercantiles at 16th Street in partnership with the American Indian Cultural District, and at 24th Street in partnership with Calle 24 would create benefits for the community and for BART. Events, food purveyors, retail, and performance programming are all achievable at BART stations, and activating stations and plazas for public uses will not only make them feel more vibrant and welcoming, but offer new amenities for riders, and bring in revenue.
- We need to increase staff presence at stations, prioritizing elevators, platforms, and trains, and size trains for safety. The fare gate modernization program should make a measurable difference, and ongoing installation should prioritize the highest ridership stations first. More active environments are safer, so strategies to bring more people onto BART – including prioritizing transit oriented development on BART properties – will also help safety. BART has shown success with its Not One More Girl campaign addressing gender-based harassment, and I would expand this approach to cover all forms of bigotry and harassment. Finally, we need better coordination between service providers, outreach workers, officers and ambassador programs.
- While regional funding is needed to address the long term deficit, in the near term, BART should explore new ways to price and package fares to meet changing travel demand. Clipper 2.0 is coming soon, and will give far more flexibility for how fares can be priced. Offering day passes for tourists, monthly passes for commuters, or fare capping for everyone are all options worth pursuing. Expanding BayPass (universal, regional fare-free transit passes) beyond the pilot phase, to reach as many people as possible, will be another early priority when I’m elected.The BayPass model is self-funding, sustainable to scale, and a proven success at bringing in new revenue and new riders.
I work as a strategic advisor for Muni, where I’ve made highlighting transit’s role in confronting our climate crisis a key priority.
He taught me how to organize, how to build coalitions and practice solidarity, and how to be disciplined and strategic. He was patient and persistent, and saw something in me I didn’t see in myself. I didn’t know it then, but my life changed that day at Café Flore, and I’ve never looked back.
Together, Cleve and I organized marches and rallies and raised money to combat white supremacists. We led a 12-hour protest to cancel the only ICE contract in the Bay Area. My last and most rewarding project as Cleve’s assistant was finalizing the deal to loan Harvey Milk’s bullhorn to the Smithsonian.
I took what I learned from Cleve to keep organizing—with Women’s March San Francisco, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, and many others. I managed successful campaigns, and went on to work for three legislators. I’m particularly proud of my work legislating Oakland’s first LGBTQ Cultural District, funding HIV services, and advancing transportation in San Francisco.
Today I work on transit strategy for Muni, and I’m running for the BART Board of Directors. Knowing the shoulders I stand on, I announced my campaign on Harvey Milk Day. Cleve and Harvey are both known for many things. Their generosity in mentoring those who want to follow their footsteps should be among them.
Cleve was young and precocious when he met Harvey Milk, and his life changed.
SF Chronicle
Bay Guardian
Sierra Club
SF Tenants Union
United Educators of San Francisco
National Union of Healthcare Workers
American Federation of Teachers 2121
SEIU 1021
IFPTE Local 21
UNITE HERE Local 2
Jane Fonda Climate PAC
California Working Families Party
California Young Democrats
San Francisco Young Democrats
San Francisco Women's Political Committee
Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
Rose Pak Democratic Club
San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club
San Francisco Berniecrats
Potrero Hill Democratic Club
District 11 Democratic Club
Bernal Heights Democratic Club
San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters
San Francisco League of Conservation Voters
Sunrise Movement Bay Area
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors District 9 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 8, 2024
