Oakland City Council Race: Jennifer Pae Gets Alameda Sup Keith Carson's Backing

Jenn Pae

A slowly developing challenge to Oakland City Council District Two Councilmember Patricia Kernighan now has the magical look of an upset effort. Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson has announced he's backing Jennifer Pae as the next District Two Councilmember for Oakland.

"I am honored to have the support of Supervisor Keith Carson," said Pae. "Supervisor Carson has a long history of protecting working families and I look forward to working with him on ways we can invest in Oakland."

Jennifer Pae is a 28-year-old Korean American community organizer who has been involved in a number of grassroots political efforts in Oakland.

Pat Kernighan

It's not the only bit of news from Jenn's campaign: she's also out-raised the incumbent Councilmember Kernighan by (according to the last reporting period) over $10,000, or $36,638 versus $20,393.

While Pat reportedly has raised $47,000 overall, and before her last cocktail-oriented event, for Jennifer to beat the pants off Pat over the last period should come as a wake-up call for the incumbent.

If it didn't, then Keith's backing of Jenn should tell Pat that this may be the beginning of the end. At the very least, it's interesting.

Stay tuned.