Charlene Wang
Candidate for City Council Member, Oakland, District 2 · City Councilmember, District 2
Charlene Wang is an East Bay native who was elected to represent District 2 on the Oakland City Council in an April 2025 special election, driven in part by her family's personal experience with poverty and violence. She holds an environmental engineering degree with honors from Columbia University and a master's in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In the Biden-Harris administration she worked on a multibillion-dollar initiative reconnecting communities divided by highways, and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency she worked on environmental justice and civil rights matters, advocating throughout her career for disadvantaged communities on homelessness, transportation, education, healthcare, and environmental justice.
Positions in brief
Wang's priorities focus on improving public safety, expanding economic opportunity, and delivering more effective and equitable government services.
Since taking office, Wang's stated priorities include restoring public institutional trust, addressing encampments with compassion, improving 911 and emergency-response systems, implementing data-informed oversight of city spending, and modernizing departmental operations. She says she regularly partners with neighborhood leaders, local businesses, and community organizations toward a safer, cleaner, and more just Oakland.
On the issues
- Public Safety & Policing
Has worked to improve 911 and emergency-response systems and to address homeless encampments with compassion.
Source → - Economy & Jobs
Focuses on expanding economic opportunity in partnership with local businesses.
Source → - Government, Elections & Democracy
Has implemented data-informed oversight of city spending and worked to modernize departmental operations.
Source →
Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.