James Harris (California)
James Harris was the District 7 representative on the Oakland Unified Board of Education in California. He was first elected to the board on November 6, 2012. Harris did not seek re-election in 2020.
Biography
Harris' started an advertising and marketing business called the Morgan Media Group (MMG) in 2004. Harris previously worked as an English teacher at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. He has served on the Aim High East Bay Leadership Council and been a board member of Youth Uprising. He was a founding board member of the organization Great Oakland Public Schools. Harris earned a bachelor's degree in communication from Santa Clara University. He and his wife have two children.[1][2]
Elections
2016
Four of the seven seats on the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In her bid for re-election to District 1, incumbent Jody London defeated challenger Don Macleay. District 3 incumbent Jumoke Hinton Hodge also won re-election, defeating challengers Benjamin Lang, Lucky Narain, and Kharyshi Wiginton. The District 5 race featured incumbent Roseann Torres and challengers Mike Hassid, Mike Hutchinson, and Huber Trenado, and Torres won re-election to the seat. In District 7, incumbent James Harris defeated challenger Chris Jackson to win another term on the board.[3][4]
Ranked-choice voting was used to determine the final election results for the District 3 and 5 races. To learn more about this process, click here.[5][6]
Results
| Oakland Unified School District, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 James Harris Incumbent |
66.25% | 9,772 |
| Chris Jackson | 32.91% | 4,855 |
| Write-in votes | 0.84% | 124 |
| Total Votes | 14,751 | |
| Source: Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "General Election (Certified Results) - November 08, 2016," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Funding
Harris reported $27,586.00 in contributions and $26,850.43 in expenditures to the Oakland City Clerk, which left his campaign with $735.57 on hand in the election.[7]
Endorsements
Harris was endorsed by the following organizations and elected officials:[8][9][10][11]
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Harris was also endorsed by a number of community members. Click here to see a list of his supporters.
2012
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | James Harris |
56.6% | 7,938 | |
| Nonpartisan | Alice A. Spearman | 42.3% | 5,926 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1.1% | 153 | |
| Total Votes | 14,017 | |||
| Source: Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "Certified Final Results: General Election November 6, 2012," accessed July 29, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2016
Harris highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | School Safety Our students need safe, secure campuses free from vandalism, intruders and crime. I’ll continue supporting after-school and enrichment activities that reduce bullying and give kids a well-rounded education. Please join our effort to clean up the streets around our schools and sign-up for our Trash Clean-Up Saturdays on our Volunteer page. Student Achievement East Oakland Educational Equality |
” |
| —James Harris (2016)[13] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'James Harris' 'Oakland Unified School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oakland Unified School District, "District 7: President James Harris," accessed October 5, 2016
- ↑ Re-elect James Harris School Board East Oakland, "About James," accessed October 5, 2016
- ↑ East Bay Citizen, "2016 East Bay Candidates List (Official for November)," August 19, 2016
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "General Election (Certified Results) - November 08, 2016," accessed November 30, 2016
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "Ranked-Choice Voting Accumulated Results - School Director, District 5 - Oakland," accessed January 11, 2017
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, "Ranked-Choice Voting Accumulated Results - School Director, District 3 - Oakland," accessed January 11, 2017
- ↑ Oakland City Clerk, "City of Oakland Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed March 7, 2017
- ↑ GO Public Schools Oakland Advocates, "GO Endorses James Harris for OUSD School Board, District 7," July 29, 2016
- ↑ Re-elect James Harris School Board East Oakland, "Endorsements," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ Evolve, "Endorsements: November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed October 11, 2016
- ↑ CCSA Advocates, "Our Endorsements: November 2016 Elections," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Re-elect James Harris School Board East Oakland, "Priorities," accessed October 4, 2016
| 2016 Oakland Unified School District Elections | |
| Alameda County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Incumbent, Jody London • Don Macleay District 3: • Incumbent, Jumoke Hinton Hodge • Benjamin Lang • Lucky Narain • Kharyshi Wiginton District 5: • Incumbent, Roseann Torres • Mike Hassid • Mike Hutchinson • Huber Trenado District 7: • Incumbent, James Harris • Chris Jackson |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
