Gay, Lesbian Candidates Win BART Board Races

The board that oversees the regional BART transit agency will continue to have two out members as a gay newcomer and lesbian incumbent won their races Tuesday.

And voters in three Bay Area counties passed a $3.5 billion bond measure to upgrade the 44-year-old transportation system's aging infrastructure. Measure RR, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass, was leading with 70 percent of the total vote count based on unofficial returns Wednesday morning.

In Alameda County lesbian BART board member Rebecca Saltzman secured her re-election bid for the District 3 seat on the oversight body. The seat covers all or parts of Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Kensington, Lafayette, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, Piedmont, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, and unincorporated areas of Alameda and Contra Costa County.

She had garnered 60.71 percent of the vote for a total of 43,062.

"Things look good for my campaign right now. I'm really hoping I get in and RR passes; if it does we have a really good plan to invest in the system, improving infrastructure and putting in the new train control system so we can run more trains at rush hour," Saltzman told the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday night shortly after the first vote totals were announced.

Her opponent Ken Chew, a senior transportation engineer, landed in a distant second place with close to 25 percent of the vote. Varun Paul, a process improvement consultant, was in third place with nearly 9 percent, and web programmer Worth Freeman landed in fourth place with 5 percent of the vote.

In San Francisco gay former District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty had a commanding lead in the race for the open District 9 seat on BART's Board of Directors. The current occupant of the seat, gay transportation advocate Tom Radulovich, announced shortly before the August filing deadline to enter the race that he had decided to not seek re-election.

Dufty, most recently Mayor Ed Lee's adviser on homeless issues, had 61 percent of the vote as of Wednesday morning for a total vote count of 63,576.

In second place with 31 percent of the vote was Gwyneth Borden, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association's executive director. A former planning commissioner, Borden, a straight woman, is currently now on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Commission.

Coming in third place was gay activist Michael Petrelis with 7 percent of the vote.
Newly elected BART board member Bevan Dufty

Dufty, attending an election night party at Slim's hosted by state Senate candidate Jane Kim, told the B.A.R. that "on a night when I feel despondent about the presidential election, I'm trying to look farther, and I thank the voters for this opportunity."

He added that he was "so proud" to be elected along with Lateefah Simon, who won the BART board's District 7 seat, which is largely based in Alameda County but includes a sliver of San Francisco.

"I intend to bring a nuts and bolts approach to improve the experience of BART users," added Dufty. "I'm deeply honored to have this opportunity."

Later, Dufty told the crowd at Slim's, "Voters said, 'Put this queen on a train and let's get this thing running.'"

Michael Nugent and Seth Hemmelgarn contributed to this report.