31 Facts About Rebecca Kaplan

Rebecca Kaplan moved to Oakland in the 1990s, where she served as a legislative aide and housing rights attorney.

Rebecca Kaplan was elected to an at-large seat on the Oakland City Council in 2008.

Rebecca Kaplan was the youngest and first openly LGBTQ+ member of the Oakland City Council.

Rebecca Kaplan unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2010 and 2014 and has served one stint as council president and two stints as vice mayor.

Rebecca Kaplan is a candidate for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to fill the seat of Wilma Chan.

Rebecca Kaplan was born on September 17,1970, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Rebecca Kaplan was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and attended the Hamilton Hebrew Academy and the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto.

Rebecca Kaplan's childhood was marked by stories of social justice and workers' rights, which inspired her to pursue a career in public service.

Rebecca Kaplan moved to the United States in the 1980s to attend college.

Rebecca Kaplan was awarded an academic honor from Phi Beta Kappa.

Rebecca Kaplan later earned a master of arts in urban and environmental policy from Tufts University and a juris doctor from Stanford University.

Rebecca Kaplan got her start in politics by volunteering on Ted Kennedy's re-election campaign in 1994.

Rebecca Kaplan later worked for Prisoner Legal Services and practiced law as a housing rights attorney and as a labor attorney with the San Francisco-based firm Altshuler Berzon.

Rebecca Kaplan unsuccessfully ran for the Oakland City Council in 2000 as a member of the Green Party, but was a Green when elected to the AC Transit Board in 2002 and 2006.

Rebecca Kaplan served the remainder of Williams' term and was elected to a term in her own right later that year.

Rebecca Kaplan was re-elected in 2006 and resigned in 2008 after being elected to the Oakland City Council.

Rebecca Kaplan was elected to an at-large seat on the Oakland City Council in 2008.

Rebecca Kaplan was the youngest and first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to public office in Oakland.

Rebecca Kaplan was unanimously elected to serve as vice mayor in 2021 and currently holds that position.

Rebecca Kaplan previously served as council president from 2019 to 2021 and served a one-year stint as vice mayor from 2015 to 2016.

Rebecca Kaplan was a candidate for mayor of Oakland in 2010 and 2014, coming in third place and second place, respectively.

In 2009, Oakland's budget shortfall ran into the tens of millions, and as a solution, Rebecca Kaplan proposed Measure F, which raised taxes on medical cannabis businesses.

Rebecca Kaplan received national media attention from this initiative, appearing on PBS's NewsHour and Fox Business Network to discuss it.

Three other ballot measures, campaigned for by Rebecca Kaplan, were passed in a successful effort to balance the year's budget.

In 2009, Rebecca Kaplan redesigned a failed council measure by Desley Brooks to require owners of certain vacant properties to register their buildings with the city after Oakland's vacancy problem had led to rampant use of empty buildings for illegal activities.

In 2018, Rebecca Kaplan championed the vacant parcel tax in Oakland in an effort to resolve Oakland's growing homeless problem.

In 2019, Rebecca Kaplan contributed to an effort to sue Alameda County over the approved $85 million sale of the land currently housing the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Oakland Arena to the Oakland Athletics.

Rebecca Kaplan was a candidate for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in the 3rd district.

In November 2022, Rebecca Kaplan lost the election to Lena Tam.

Rebecca Kaplan has been identified as both bisexual and a lesbian in the press and identifies as gender nonconforming.

Rebecca Kaplan married Pamela Rosin in 2014 after two years of dating.