Daria Wrubel

Berkeley's District 1 race is the most fiercely competitive: The incumbent, housing champion Rashi Kesarwani, is not running for re-election. There are five candidates vying for her seat. This is a swing district that, historically, has narrowly favored housing: Rashi won her race for re-election with just 53% of the vote. We’ll present endorsements of our top two picks.

Ross #1 (Rossforberkeley.com) - We strongly endorse Ross Bernet as the most pro-housing candidate in this race. Ross first got involved in local politics when he ran for the local Sierra Club's executive committee to champion housing and bike lanes. His voting record in the Sierra Club speaks for itself: he’s the candidate who will deliver infill housing near jobs and transit. It took him years to be able to find a way to live in Berkeley long-term, and he appreciates the urgency of our housing crisis. He has also earned the endorsement of prominent pro-housing politicians that we admire, such as Councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani, Terry Taplin, Mark Humbert, and superstar Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. In this crowded field, Ross Bernet stands head and shoulders above the pack as an effective and practical coalition builder who will work hard to deliver housing.

Daria #2 (DariaForBerkeley.com) - There are many candidates in this race, and in this ranked-choice voting election, we endorse Daria Wrubel for number two. While her support for housing does not have a long track record like Ross’s, and we are concerned about her stated stance not to reduce the city’s subsidized housing requirements or fees in order to get stalled housing projects to pencil, we were encouraged to see her speak sincerely and thoughtfully on where she stands, without shifting or moderating, even to housing-skeptical audiences. She does genuinely care about housing affordability, and does believe that constructing more housing in all areas of the city is important. We are convinced that Daria would be far better on housing than the remaining competitors and thus recommend ranking her number two on the ballot.

Daria Wrubel is running for the Berkeley City Council. Born and raised in Berkeley, she worked as an educator and horticulturist in Thousand Oaks Elementary School's edible schoolyard program, then as a union organizer with the California Federation of Teachers. She later earned a degree in Counseling Psychology focused on youth and young adults, worked in schools around the East Bay, and now has a private therapy practice working with young people in Berkeley and Albany. She has lived in District 1 with her husband and daughter for twenty years.