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Ken Houston

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Ken Houston
Image of Ken Houston

Nonpartisan

Oakland City Council District 7
Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

0

Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

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Personal LinkedIn

Ken Houston is a member of the Oakland City Council in California, representing District 7. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 8, 2029.

Houston ran for election to the Oakland City Council to represent District 7 in California. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Elections

2024

See also: City elections in Oakland, California (2024)

General election

General election for Oakland City Council District 7

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Ken Houston in round 3 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 13,439
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Houston in this election.

2018

See also: Mayoral election in Oakland, California (2018)

General election

General election for Mayor of Oakland

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Oakland on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Libby Schaaf
Libby Schaaf (Nonpartisan)
 
53.3
 
84,502
Image of Cat Brooks
Cat Brooks (Nonpartisan)
 
25.7
 
40,760
Image of Pamela Price
Pamela Price (Nonpartisan)
 
13.1
 
20,794
Image of Saied Karamooz
Saied Karamooz (Nonpartisan)
 
1.9
 
3,005
Image of Ken Houston
Ken Houston (Nonpartisan)
 
1.7
 
2,640
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Marchon Tatmon (Nonpartisan)
 
1.3
 
2,114
Image of Nancy Sidebotham
Nancy Sidebotham (Nonpartisan)
 
1.1
 
1,766
Image of Peter Liu
Peter Liu (Nonpartisan)
 
0.7
 
1,166
Image of Cedric A. Troupe
Cedric A. Troupe (Nonpartisan)
 
0.7
 
1,128
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Jesse A.J. Smith (Nonpartisan)
 
0.5
 
743

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 158,618
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = 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.

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2014

See also: Oakland, California municipal elections, 2014

The 2014 Oakland mayoral election took place on November 4, 2014. The filing deadline was August 8, 2014.[1] In the general election, Elizabeth "Libby" Schaaf defeated incumbent Jean Quan and candidates Jason "Shake" Anderson, Ken Houston, Rebecca Kaplan, Saied Karamooz, Peter Yuan Liu, Patrick K. McCullough, Bryan Parker, Courtney Ruby, Nancy Sidebotham, Dan Siegel, Joseph Tuman, Charles Ray Williams, and Eric Wilson.[2][3]


Legend:     Eliminated in current round     Most votes     Lost






This is the first round of voting. To view subsequent rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.

Mayor of Oakland, 2014, Round 1
Candidate Vote % Votes Transfer
Charles Ray Williams 1% 1,052 1
Dan Siegel 12.9% 13,122 3
Rebecca Kaplan 14.4% 14,693 4
Jason "Shake" Anderson 1.5% 1,550 1
Courtney Ruby 3.1% 3,115 0
Eric Wilson 0.4% 393 0
Saied Karamooz 0.3% 264 1
Patrick K. McCullough 0.4% 362 1
Nancy Sidebotham 0.3% 267 0
Peter Yuan Liu 0.5% 464 1
Joseph Tuman 12% 12,251 0
Ken Houston 0.5% 518 0
Bryan Parker 7.8% 7,955 3
Elizabeth "Libby" Schaaf - Most votes 29.5% 30,041 0
Jean Quan 15.5% 15,808 3
Write-in 0% 0 0
Sammuel Washington - Eliminated 0% 33 −33
Exhausted 2,946 15
Total Votes 104,834 0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.

This is the final round of voting. To view previous rounds, click the [show] button next to that round.

Mayor of Oakland, 2014, Final Round
Candidate Vote % Votes Transfer
Charles Ray Williams 0% 0 0
Dan Siegel 0% 0 0
Rebecca Kaplan - Eliminated 36.8% 28,421 0
Jason "Shake" Anderson 0% 0 0
Courtney Ruby 0% 0 0
Eric Wilson 0% 0 0
Saied Karamooz 0% 0 0
Patrick K. McCullough 0% 0 0
Nancy Sidebotham 0% 0 0
Peter Yuan Liu 0% 0 0
Joseph Tuman 0% 0 0
Ken Houston 0% 0 0
Bryan Parker 0% 0 0
Elizabeth "Libby" Schaaf - Winner 63.2% 48,806 0
Jean Quan 0% 0 0
Write-in 0% 0 0
Sammuel Washington 0% 0 0
Exhausted 27,607 0
Total Votes 104,834 0
Note: Negative numbers in the transfer total are due to exhaustion by overvotes.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ken Houston did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2014

On his campaign website, Houston highlighted the following issues:[4]
Police

  • Excerpt: "Ken Houston believes that 700 officers is enough. Hiring more officers is a Band Aid to the true problem. Studies show that having more officers may reduce property crime, but not violent crimes. Changing the culture of the OPD and bringing the officers together with the community is and providing opportunity is the only way to reduce crime and disparity. As a community advocate, Ken Houston has already been bringing the community and police together by inviting captains from the OPD and the District Attorney to talk to the people so their concerns and needs are heard and communication is opened. This is what will change disparity and violence, not more police officers."

Government transparency

  • Excerpt: "Like San Francisco,” Ken Houston states, “I would like to partner with high-tech companies to provide Internet access for all city residents. Also, on the first floor of the City Clerk’s office, I would like to add a computer lab for residents to have access to the Internet and public record request information. There should be equal flow of information to everyone, and upgrading the system at City Hall would go a long way to ensuring not only transparency but equal access to city data and services."

Jobs and employment

  • Excerpt: "[Houston] was instrumental in raising the “due diligence” local participation from 30% to 50% mandatory local participation in both the City and the Oakland Unified School District. As Mayor, he will raise this to 75% local participation. Ken Houston will continue to partner with local industry to establish vocational training programs designed specifically for their work needs and ensure there are jobs at the end of the training cycle. He also plans to work with the Oakland Unified School District to bolster the academy programs. Most of the ills of Oakland can be solved with jobs, and jobs is Ken Houston’s top priority as mayor."

See also

2024 Elections

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External links

Candidate

Oakland City Council District 7
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    Personal

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ City of Oakland, "Municipal Election November 4, 2014," accessed March 10, 2014
    2. ↑ Alameda County, "Official 2014 Candidate List," accessed September 10, 2014
    3. ↑ Alameda County, "Unofficial election results," accessed November 5, 2014
    4. ↑ Ken Houston 4 Mayor, "hmmm," accessed September 23, 2014

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Treva Reid     		Oakland City Council District 7
    2025-Present    		 Succeeded by
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