Adriana Valencia

A longtime YIMBY, Valencia is an everyday rider on the AC Transit system. Centering her campaign on the rider experience, Adriana calls out three focus areas of Reliability, Affordability and Accountability. She sees good governance as a requisite element of any progress at the agency, even throwing herself into the fray by filing suit against the District over the half-million-dollar sweetheart deal engineered by her opponent, Joel Young, to outgoing GM Michael Hursh at the end of 2024. Her consistent advocacy over the years portends a vigorous role in delivering better service and a greater rider focus going forward. Adriana has earned the endorsement of the Alameda County Democratic Party, and disparate groups from Empower Oakland to Our Revolution, and elected officials Buffy Wicks, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Lena Tam, Zac Unger, and current and former transit officials Rebecca Salzman, Jean Walsh, and Sarah Syed, along with many transit advocates.

Adriana Valencia is a candidate for AC Transit District Director, Ward 3 (Alameda, Oakland and Piedmont), on the November 3, 2026 ballot; she is not an incumbent. A product and project manager by profession, she holds a PhD in architecture from UC Berkeley and is a Fulbright grant recipient. She has lived in the East Bay for 25 years, organized for affordable housing at MacArthur BART, worked with parents on safer routes to school, and chaired the Temescal/Telegraph BID's Design and Economic Development Committee.