The Antioch Police Officers’ Association (APOA) is pleased to announce its endorsement of Sandra White for City Council District 4 and Joy Motts for City Council District 1.
Our members are dedicated to protecting and serving the people of Antioch, and we believe strong, collaborative leadership at City Hall is essential to that mission. Sandra White and Joy Motts have shown a commitment to public safety and to the future of this community. We are proud to support them.
The APOA’s endorsement reflects its members’ shared goal of a safe, thriving Antioch for residents, families, and local businesses. The Association looks forward to working with both candidates to support the city’s police department, strengthen community trust, and build a better future for Antioch.
The APOA encourages all Antioch residents to learn about the candidates, make a plan to vote, and take part in the upcoming election.
Including Antioch Council candidates Joy Motts, Monica Wilson and Matty Matthews Alappat
By Kaleo Mark, Community Organizer, Seamless Bay Area
Bay Area – A coalition of 28 transit, bike, disability, and street safety advocates from around the Bay Area published the responses from over 250 candidates for local, state, and federal office in our “Bay Area Transportation Candidate Questionnaire.”
The questionnaire responses will help voters across the Bay Area make more informed decisions about the candidates who, if elected, will be positioned to significantly determine the future of how Bay Area residents get around. Candidates shared their perspectives on designing our streets to be safer for all, making transit a more desirable option, and addressing the transportation sector’s role in climate change.
How we get around and the barriers we face in that process affect nearly every aspect of our lives like housing, healthcare, economic development, safety, education, and much more.
“Local elected officials play critical roles on local regional transportation bodies and boards around the Bay Area and are influential in transit ballot funding campaigns. It is essential for people running for office to know the issues, and to understand that there is an active constituency who care about transit and active transportation and consider these issues in voting,” said Adina Levin, Executive Director at Seamless Bay Area.
2026 is an especially important year for Bay Area public transit, with voters casting their votes on two ballot measures that will determine the future of our region’s transit: Measure RTM across Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties and Prop H in San Francisco.
Top candidates in high-profile races across the Bay Area responded to this questionnaire, including:
Region-wide
22 responses from mayoral candidates running in Richmond, Alameda, Dublin, Hayward, Oakland, Santa Clara, Fairfield, and more.
Responses from City Council candidates running in 74 different cities across the Bay Area.
East Bay
Aisha Wahab in the 14th Congressional District race.
Scott Sakakihara and Linda Price in the State Senate District 10 race in the East and South Bay to replace Senator Aisha Wahab.
Adriana Valencia in AC Transit Ward 3 race.
80 candidates for City Council races across Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
“When it comes to how we get to where we’re going, and the options we have for how we get around, our local, county, and state elected officials have a massive impact.” said Carter Lavin, co-founder of Transbay Coalition. “Now more than ever, local electeds can make a big difference on things like whether or not it is safe to cross your street, or if your bus is on time, or even if there is a bus going where you want to go. Although candidates rarely lead with their transportation policies, transportation impacts every voter every day so voters deserve to know where candidates stand on the issue.”
“The Bay Area’s elected officials will have a critical role to play in saving public transit. Our transportation systems are at a tipping point, with many facing huge deficits. Therefore, it’s important now more than ever to elect leaders at all levels who will support a sustainable and equitable funding solution for our vital transit providers,” said Abibat Rahman-Davies, Transportation Policy Manager for Transform.
“Persons with disabilities depend on public transportation for everything from going to the doctor to going to work in the morning! Finding out how candidates stand on transit is vital to our very existence!” said Warren Cushman, Community Organizer at Community Resources for Independent Living.
“Transit service is the lifeblood of a community – it allows economic, social and educational opportunities for everyone,” said Abigail Zoger, a professor and lead at North Bay Transit Riders. “In Marin and Sonoma, the lack of night service means the community college evening classes are inaccessible to many. One student reported missing the last bus and having to walk 4 hours home at night.”
“Over the past year, San Francisco Transit Riders has mobilized thousands of voters to speak up and demand sustainable solutions from their elected officials to fund and improve public transportation,” said Dylan Fabris, Community and Policy Director at San Francisco Transit Riders. “San Franciscans depend on public transportation so it is important for them to know how their candidates shape up on the transportation issues that affect their lives every day.”
“Bike East Bay believes in a transportation future where owning and maintaining a car is not a prerequisite to moving around the East Bay with freedom. We want to see a system that is safer, cleaner, and more seamlessly integrated than what currently exists,” said Justin Hu-Nguyen, Executive Co-Director of Mobility Justice at Bike East Bay.
“With the future of reliable transit and e-bike access on the line, California’s chance at achieving climate goals has never been more dire. Before we vote, we must know that incoming elected officials will not just support transit, biking, and walking, they will fight for it. An affordable, equitable Bay Area with clean air depends on it,” said Amy Thomson, Policy Director at Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.
“A strong public transportation system is a crucial component in making biking and rolling safe, convenient and welcoming to everyone in San Francisco,” says Rachel Clyde, senior community organizer for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. “We need leaders who will champion innovative solutions for improving all forms of sustainable transportation in our communities.”
“Public transit massively extends the range of the bicycle. We need robust public transit in order to efficiently traverse the Bay Area with the powerful combination of bike and public transit,” said Bruce Dughi, co-founder of BikeWalk Castro Valley.
About Seamless Bay Area
Seamless Bay Area is a public transportation advocacy group working to transform the Bay Area’s public transit into a world-class, unified, equitable, and widely-used system by building a diverse movement for change and promoting policy reforms. More at seamlessbayarea.org.
By Gail Murray, League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley
How secure are our elections? On Thursday, September 24 at 2:00 p.m., join a Community Conversations informative webinar exploring the safeguards that protect our voting systems and ensure every eligible vote is counted accurately.
Panelists will describe election security, ballot protection, and the processes that help maintain public confidence in our democracy. Whether you’re a new voter or a longtime election volunteer, you’ll leave with a better understanding of how safe and secure our elections really are.
Panelists:
Kristin Connelly, Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters
Reelected in June; focus is on voter access, election transparency and battling election misinformation.
Helen Hutchison, past president of the League of Women Voters of California
Serving at the state League, worked on initiative and referendum reform, ballot measures and redistricting.
Information on how to access the Zoom webinar will be sent to your email address 24 hours before the program.
The webinar will have simultaneous Spanish interpretation and the Contra Costa County Library will provide closed captioning. This program will be recorded and uploaded to the Library’s YouTube and the LWVDV YouTube channels after the event. For special accommodations, please contact the Library with 72 hours’ notice.
Sponsors include the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley, the League of Women Voters of West Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa County Library and Contra Costa TV.
Hear from U.S. Constitutional scholars on Constitution Dayin-person or online
By Gail Murray, League of Women Voters Diablo Valley
On Constitution Day, September 17, two eminent U.S. Constitutional scholars will discuss the challenges of maintaining effective presidential leadership while preventing abuse of power. Their conversation will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.at St. Mary’s College in Moraga in the Claeys Room of the Soda Center and will be available simultaneously on Zoom.
Speakers will be:
Vikram Amar, the Daniel J. Dykstra Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Davis Law School. Amar is one of the most eminent and frequently cited authorities in constitutional law.
Dan Farber, the Sho Sato Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Edley Center on Law & Democracy at UC Berkeley Law School. Farber is the author of Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power.
Recent public debates have renewed longstanding constitutional questions about the proper scope of executive power. The speakers will engage in a discussion about perennial questions:
How should we balance the need for effective leadership with the need to prevent abuse of power?
Have we achieved that balance?
What would the founders think about the powers of the modern presidency?
Professor Barbara McGraw, Director of the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism and professor of Social Ethics, Law, and Public Life at Saint Mary’s College will moderate the discussion.
Professor Steve Woolpert of St. Mary’s College, an organizer of the event, is available for interviews. Contact woolpert@stmarys-ca.edu He can speak about this panel and other activities around the 250th anniversary of the U.S. and the Declaration of Independence.
The Contra Costa County Library will provide closed captioning for this event, and the Library and the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley (LWVDV) are underwriting simultaneous Spanish translation. This program will be recorded and uploaded to the Library and LWVDV YouTube channels after the event.
For more information, contact Diane Bianchi of the LWVDV at programs@lwvdv.org
Sponsors of the event are St. Mary’s College, The Disney Forum, the League of Women Voters Diablo Valley, the League of Women Voters West Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa County Library and CCTV.
Meet your candidates for Antioch City Council and Antioch School Board
By NAACP East Contra Costa County Branch
The East Contra Costa County Branch of the NAACP invites you to join us for an important evening of civic engagement and community dialogue at our upcoming Candidates’ Night, September 24 beginning at 6:30 p.m.
This is your opportunity to hear directly from candidates for Antioch City Council and Antioch School Board, learn about their priorities, and hear their vision for the future of our community.
The event will include Q&A Session, Personal Introductions, Community Discussions and Light Refreshments.
Your voice matters. An informed community is an empowered community, and we encourage all residents, voters, families, and community stakeholders to attend and participate.
Come. Listen. Ask questions. Be informed. Be engaged.
This is a free event. We request that each attendee register and present their registration at the door. Thank you.
In a recent post on her Instagram account, political newcomer Matty Alappat announced her campaign for Antioch City Council in District 4 to unseat incumbent Councilwoman Monica Wilson. According to the City Clerk’s report, she filed her required documents and qualified as a candidate on August 5th. Alappat’s campaign slogan is, “United as Americans. Committed to Antioch” and lists her priorities as, “Public Safety, Clean Communities and Economic Growth.”
Matty Alappat in an AI-generated photo on her campaign website.
Plus, her campaign website includes the slogan, “A Safer, Cleaner Antioch — For All of Us” and she offers “Practical, neighborhood-focused leadership. Replacing political noise with actionable solutions.” She also provides a list of her priorities of “Public Safety, Thoughtful Housing and Homelessness Solutions, Cleaner City and Downtown Revitalization and Local Jobs” and is temporarily using an AI-generated photo of herself on the “About Matty” page which she plans to replace once new photos are taken.
As previously reported, she is listed on the ballot as Metty Mathews Alappat, and according to her LinkedIn page, her most recent job was as a Senior Technical Account Manager for Amazon Web Services until July 2025.
In her Instagram post repeating what is written in her Candidate Statement, Alappat provided more details about herself and why she’s running. She wrote, “I am Matty Alappat and I am running for Antioch City Council, District 4, to help build a safer, cleaner and more prosperous community for all of us.
“For the last 15 years I have worked in the software industry, solving tough problems and leading successful initiatives. I am ready to bring that same practical approach to City Council.
“I was fortunate to be raised by a mom who was a science teacher and a dad who worked in banking. They taught me that success is built on hard work, integrity, respect for others, and giving back to your community — values I still live by today.
“If elected, my top priority will be public safety. I will make sure the police have the resources required to fight crime and protect our neighborhoods.
“We also have to take better care of our city. That means investing in city’s infrastructure, revitalizing downtown, maintaining clean pet-friendly public spaces and bringing in new businesses and good-paying jobs.
“Housing policies must be carefully planned to fit existing neighborhoods and should only move forward where our infrastructure can truly support them. We will partner with nonprofits to help unhoused individuals achieve long-term stability and self-sufficiency, while also focusing on short-term transitional housing options.
“Antioch deserves leadership that brings people together, spends taxpayer dollars wisely, and gets results. I am committed to making Antioch a place we can all be proud of.
“I look forward to earning your support.”
Alappat’s LinkedIn profile shows she has earned six licenses and certificates all in the tech industry. Asked about her education when reached for comment Alappat said she earned a Master’s Degree in History, in 2002 and a B.A. in History, Economics and Political Science, both from theUniversity of Kerala in India.
Alappat moved to Antioch four years ago from Hayward.
“I adopted a dog who is very high energy and my place in Hayward was very tiny,” she shared. “I thought it was time to move to a house with a backyard and looked in this area because it’s more affordable for me.”
Currently, Alappat is in between jobs saying, “I decided to take a break and that’s when I started to think about doing something different.”
Alappat is also running against third-time candidate Sandra White and another first-time candidate, Andrew Becker, who regularly attends and speaks during council meetings. Wilson is seeking her fifth term on the council.
In English and Spanish; for third term, faces Joy Motts for third time
By Allen D. Payton
Although she completed filing last month, in a post on her official Facebook page on Monday, August 24, 2026, incumbent District 1 Antioch City Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker announced her re-election campaign to a third term. Actually, if elected it will be her second-and-a-half term as she was elected in 2020 for a two-year term following council districting and for a full, four-year term in 2022. Once again, Torres-Walker faces former Councilwoman Joy Motts, for a third time, having first unseating Motts by 212 votes, then defeating her again in 2022 by just four votes following a recount. (Note: This reporter helped raise funds to pay for the recount).
However, in those races, there were three candidates running and splitting the vote. This time it’s a one-on-one contest.
Torres-Walker’s campaign slogans this year are, “Putting Working Families First” and “Leading with Clarity, Steadiness, and Care.”
In her candidate statement, Torres-Walker’s ballot designation is listed as Councilwoman/Nonprofit Executive, working as Executive Director for the Richmond-based Safe Return Project, according to her LinkedIn profile. The councilwoman is a Co-Founder of the organization according to their website, and describes it as “a campaign to secure the freedom and liberation of formerly incarcerated individuals.”
She first posted in English then in Spanish writing, “I’m running for re-election as Antioch City Council member representing District 1 this November.
“My leadership has been focusing on the people and the solution, not just the fight. We need local leaders who will run toward the difficulties facing our communities rather than turn a blind eye. Antioch needs a leader who won’t let inequity go unaddressed while others conduct business as usual.
In Spanish she wrote, “Me postulo para la reelección como miembro del Concejo Municipal de Antioch, en representación del Distrito 1, este mes de noviembre.
“Mi liderazgo se ha enfocado en las personas y en encontrar soluciones, no simplemente en la confrontación. Necesitamos líderes locales que den la cara a las dificultades que afectan a nuestras comunidades, en lugar de hacerse de la vista gorda. Antioch necesita un líder que no permita que las desigualdades queden sin atender mientras otros intentan seguir haciendo negocios como de costumbre.
“¡Soy esa líder!”
On her campaign website Torres-Walker offers additional messages of, “Proven leadership. Community-rooted change. A stronger Antioch for everyone” and “Leadership Focused on People and Solutions,” and a list of her accomplishments in office.
Under the title of “Building Antioch’s Next Chapter” she writes, “My vision is an Antioch where every neighborhood is safe, every family can afford a stable home, every young person has opportunities to succeed, and every resident can see themselves represented in their local government.”
Torres-Walker offers seven commitments if elected for another term. She writes, “I will continue working to:
Expand community-based violence prevention and youth programs
Protect renters and increase pathways to affordable home ownership.
Address homelessness through housing, services and long-term solutions.
Strengthen police accountability and improve community trust.
Support seniors, veterans, working families and people with disabilities.
Bring responsible development, good jobs and new economic opportunities to Antioch.
Make City Hall more transparent, accessible and accountable to the people it serves.
She summarizes her platform as, “Affordable Housing; Safe Neighborhoods; Good Jobs and a Strong Local Economy; Youth Opportunity; Transparent, Accountable Government; and One Antioch.”
Torres-Walker finishes her message with, “We have shown what is possible when residents organize, speak up and demand something better. Now, I am ready to build on that progress and continue moving Antioch forward—with courage, experience and a commitment to leaving no one behind.
“Let’s continue building an Antioch where every family has the opportunity to thrive.”
Her candidate statement shares more of her accomplishments and ends with, “There’s more work ahead, and I’m not backing down. I’m asking for your vote, so I can keep fighting for an Antioch that works for all of us.”
Says “the District Board wrote the RTM Ballot Question…in a way that is intentionally confusing or misleading to voters.”
By Allen D. Payton
The Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit (CABAT) organized to oppose the Regional Transit Measure (RTM) on the November ballot filed a lawsuit, Monday, against Election Officials in the five included counties and Kimberly Ward, the Public Transit Revenue Measure District Elections Official. If approved by voters, the tax measure, known as Connect Bay Area Transit, will raise a half-cent in four of the five counties, including Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo and one-cent in San Francisco County for 14 years and raise an estimated $17 billion.
Labeled a VERIFIED PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDATE AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION, the lawsuit was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court by 10 petitioners including former State Senator Quentin L. Kopp, Gregg A. Diéguez, President of CABAT and Marc Joffe, President of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, as well as Brian Holtz, Thomas Rubin and five others listed as individuals and electors in the Public Transit Revenue Measure District.
Kopp is also President of the San Francisco Taxpayers Association; Holtz is President of the Purissima Hills Water District Board of Directors in Santa Clara County and Secretary and Treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County; and Rubin is Vice President of the Alameda County Taxpayers Association, Inc.
Attorney Jason Bezis of Lafayette is representing them.
The District was formed to oversee the process for the transit tax measure. (Seerelated article)A separate oversight committee will be formed to verify proper expenditure of the funds should the measure pass.
The lawsuit was filed before “the final printing deadline date” of “Friday, August 28, 2026, by which all ballot language and County Voter Information Guides (CVIG) materials must be finalized, including resolving any legal challenges in court.”
Transit Officials Were Warned But Did It Anyway
According to Joffe, “Transit officials cannot claim they were blindsided. On the night of July 23, 2026, the eve of the board’s special meeting, attorney Bezis sent a detailed pre-litigation demand letter urging the board not to approve the question as drafted. The letter was acknowledged multiple times and the measure was placed on the ballot with the slanted wording anyway.”
Lawsuit cover page. Source: CABAT
Legal Claims
The lawsuit “challenges biased, not neutral, untrue, partial, argumentative, and/or prejudicial wording in the RTM Ballot Question (also called ‘ballot label’ or ‘statement of the measure’) in violation of the Elections Code sections 9051(e) and 13119(c) standards and false and/or misleading wording in the RTM Ballot Question under the Elections Code section 9380/McDonough v. Superior Court (2012) 204 Cal.App.4th 1169 (‘McDonough’) standard. This lawsuit also challenges the Impartial Analysis authored by real party in interest DISTRICT Counsel KATHLEEN KANE as false, misleading, and/or not impartial in violation of Elections Code section 9380.”
The petitioners “seek a writ of mandate to compel amendment of the ballot question (also known as ‘ballot label’ or ‘statement of the measure’) and the impartial analysis that Respondents COUNTY ELECTIONS OFFICIALS and Ms. WARD are preparing for voter use in the Regional Transit Measure (‘RTM’) election to be held on November 3, 2026.”
Further, the lawsuit claims, “Petitioners assert that the DISTRICT and DISTRICT BOARD wrote the RTM Ballot Question…in a way that is intentionally confusing or misleading to voters.”
‘To prevent major service cuts to BART and other transit, avoid increased traffic, and reduce pollution by: Preserving BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans, AC Transit, Muni, other transit for everyone, including workers, students, seniors, persons with disabilities; Supporting transit safety, cleanliness, affordability, reliability; Repairing targeted roads/potholes; Requiring financial transparency, oversight, accountability; shall the measure enacting a 0.5% (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara counties), and 1% (San Francisco) sales tax for 14 years generating approximately $980,000,000 annually, be adopted?’”
Challenges & Proposed Changes
However, the petitioners claim the adopted ballot language does not comply with state Elections Code and the amount is incorrect and should instead be $1.2 million per year. They claim the statement of the measure is not “a true and impartial synopsis of the purpose of the proposed measure,” is “argumentative” and “likely to create prejudice for or against the measure,” and that the “RTM Ballot question is inherently prejudicial” based on a survey MTC conducted last year. Furthermore, the petitioners “argue that components of the RTM Ballot Question are false and/or misleading.”
They want to make the following changes:
Amend the phrase “Preserving BART …” to read “Funding BART …”
Delete the phrase “for everyone, including workers, students, seniors, persons with disabilities”.
Delete the phrase “To prevent major service cuts to BART and other transit”.
Alternatively, strike the word “major” in the phrase “To prevent major service cuts …”
Delete the phrase “avoid increased traffic”.
Delete the phrase “reduce pollution”.
Strike the phrase “/potholes”.
Amend “Repairing targeted roads” to read “Repaving transit-served roads”.
Strike the words “affordability, reliability”.
Amend “enacting” to read “imposing”.
Amend the phrase “sales tax” to read “sales and use tax”.
Strike the word “oversight” in the phrase “Requiring … oversight”.
Strike the word “accountability” in the phrase “Requiring … accountability”.
Amend “$980,000,000 annually” (September 2025 estimate) to an updated number (an August 2026 estimate) or “$1,200,000,000 annually” (September 2025 estimates, averaged over 14 years).
Alternative Ballot Language
The lawsuit offers the following ballot language alternatives:
“If the Court were to order all of the amendments and corrections suggested by Petitioners supra, the RTM Ballot Question would read:
‘Funding BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans, AC Transit, Muni, other transit; Supporting transit safety, cleanliness; Repaving transit-serving roads; Requiring financial transparency; shall the measure imposing a 0.5% (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara counties) and 1% (San Francisco) sales and use tax for 14 years generating approximately $1,200,000,000 annually, be adopted?’”
The lawsuit further reads, “If the Court were to order all of the amendments and corrections suggested by Petitioners supra, including use of the ‘Shall the measure … be adopted?’ format, the RTM Ballot Question would read:
‘Shall the measure imposing a 0.5% (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara counties) and 1% (San Francisco) sales and use tax for 14 years generating approximately $1,200,000,000 annually; Funding BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans, AC Transit, Muni, other transit; Supporting transit safety, cleanliness; Repaving transit-serving roads; Requiring financial transparency; be adopted?’”
The petitioners also claim the “RTM Impartial Analysis is partial, false, and/or misleading” and that it should be written by either the California Attorney General, a county counsel or district attorney instead of Kathleen Kane who is he legal counsel for the District.
“Supporters of the Transit Measure need to use misleading advertising because voters won’t pass the measure if they have the real story that it is a regressive tax falling hardest on seniors and low-income families for 14 years,” Dieguez stated.
“Voters deserve the honest description the law guarantees them, and if the district won’t provide it, a court should,” Joffe added
