Lateefah Simon wins California's 12th Congressional District seat, succeeding longtime Rep. Barbara Lee
BART board member Lateefah Simon has won California's 12th Congressional District race, beating CSU East Bay professor Jennifer Tran in the race to succeed longtime Rep. Barbara Lee.
Simon won with 63.6% of the vote, while Tran received 36.4%. CBS News called the race early Friday evening.
The Alameda County district covers Oakland and multiple surrounding East Bay cities including Berkeley, Emeryville, Alameda, Albany and Piedmont, as well as most of San Leandro.
Lee has represented the area since 1998. She ran an unsuccessful campaign to fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by Dianne Feinstein from 1992 until her death last fall. Lee did not advance to the general election in the California primary in March and had already announced she was not running for reelection, opening the door for the two new candidates.
Simon is the current District 7 director on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board, on which she has served since 2016. She has described herself as a 25-year veteran organizer and as an advocate for civil rights and social justice. Simon has known Vice President Kamala Harris for years, having worked with her during her tenure as San Francisco's district attorney. Simon has called Harris her mentor and spoke on her behalf at the Democratic National Convention.
Tran is an assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal State East Bay in Hayward. She's also the president of the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.
Simon was considered the Democratic Party establishment's first choice, with Lee lending her support to the campaign.
Tran ran as an anti-establishment candidate in the race, saying the reason she decided to run for the seat is because she's been unhappy with how current leaders are governing and aims to represent other unsatisfied voters.
