Dr. Aisha Wahab

Endorsement: ASATA Power endorses Dr. Wahab, largely in recognition of her leadership in supporting caste equity by sponsoring California’s landmark caste equity bill - despite suffering staggering personal costs for doing so.  While no candidate is perfect, we believe Dr. Wahab will be an overall net positive to the Congressional representatives from the Bay Area. 

Key Positions:

• Caste Equity: Sponsored the landmark bill in California to make caste a protected category.

• Supporting Muslim communities: Sponsored a bill to make Eid a state holiday; has long spoken out against Islamophobia.

• Immigrant Rights: Has provided concrete support and constituent services to the large immigrant community in her district as a State Senator.

• Gaza: Dr. Wahab explicitly states that Israel’s action in Gaza amount to genocide. 

Organizations Endorsements

• Working Families Party

• AROC Action

• CAIR California Action

• Our Revolution

• SEIU

• Courage California

Supervisor Connie Chan

Endorsement: ASATA Power joins other progressive organizations in endorsing Supervisor Connie Chan for Congress in larger part to her strong, early and consistent support for Palestine and a call to end the genocide in Gaza. Given this seat represents the San Francisco, we recognize that all the candidates have many progressive policy positions. And in this situation - support for Palestine and the other endorsements that Supervisor Chan has earned helped ASATA Power make our decision. 

Other Key Positions:

• Opposition to the war in Iran

• Advocating for universal pre-K for all children ages 3-5

• Raising the federal minimum wage

• Considering additional taxes on the ultra rich

• Regulating AI

• Supports Medicare for All

• Opposition to Flock, stating, "“In Congress, I will fight to end federal funding for Flock.”

Organizations Endorsements

• AROC Action

• CAIR Action

• AAPIs for Civic Engagement

• California Working Families Party

• Chinese Progressive Action Action Fund

• SEIU and a number of other labor organizations

• Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Lateefah Simon

Endorsement: ASATA Power is excited to endorse the re-election campaign for Representative Simon. Since joining Congress, Representative Simon has been a staunch progressive ally, including serving as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Key Positions:

• On Islamophobia: As the first Muslim-American representative to Congress from California, Representative Simon has deep and long roots in the community and fighting for Muslim-Amerian rights. 

• On ICE: Representative Simon says that ICE is beyond reform, has consistently voted against funding for ICE and has worked to bring accountability for the actions of ICE agents in Minnesota and beyond.

• Genocide in Gaza: Representative Simon has a been a strong advocate for Gaza, including as one of the co-sponsors of the Block the Bombs Act in Congress, and early calling for a ceasefire; and has never accepted money from AIPAC. 

Organizations Endorsements

• League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund

• California Working Families Party

• Cal Berkeley Democrats

• Bend the Arc PAC

• United Farm Workers

• AROC Action

• CAIR California Action 

Ro Khanna

Endorsement: ASATA Power endorses Congressman Ro Khanna’s re-election. In particular, we support Congressman’s Khanna position on reducing the overall budget for the Department of Defense, his strong and vocal critique of increasing right-wing Hindutva groups in the US and overseas, and his position on the genocide in Gaza. Again, while no candidate is perfect, Congressman Khanna has demonstrated a real commitment to working with ASATA Power to further a progressive vision across the Bay Area. 

Key Positions:

• On ICE: Representative Khanna has said that funding ICE is a moral test for Democrats; and has introduced legislation to hold ICE agents accountable for their actions.

• On Hindutva: Has called on all Americans to reject Hindutva.

• On Palestine: Co-sponsored the original ceasefire resolution, has called what’s happening Gaza a genocide, and has co-sponsored the Block the Bombs Act.

• On accountability: Representative Khanna also co-sponsored the bill to make the Epstein files public. As we see sexual violence - particularly against women and trans folks - continue unabated, we value elected officials working toward a measure of accountability. 

*Note: Representative Khanna has been endorsed by many key groups, including AROC Action and other close allies. However, Candidate Khanna’s campaign page does not list out all his endorsements. 

Nate Adams

Endorsement: With a rich background in organizing and a clear vision for an Oakland that is affordable and accessible for all of our communities, ASATA Power endorses Nate Adams for Oakland City Council District 2. In particular, we support his long commitment and work on divesting our public dollars from harm, a progressive vision for safety that doesn't expand surveillance and Mr. Adams own history and lived experience as someone whose family survived Japanese interment in the US. 

Key Positions:

• Opposes the use of Flock cameras and similar devices - it's critical for us to have other anti-Flock officials on Oakland's city council

• Supports and has actively been working on divest from apartheid campaign in Alameda and Oakland

• Unequivocal support for Oakland upholding its sanctuary ordnance, and opposition to ICE

• A true vision for community safety that is rooted in care and making Oakland welcoming for everyone

• Support for minimum wage and renter protections

Organizations Endorsements

• AROC Action

• East Bay Democratic Socialists of America

• Oakland Educators Association (OEA)

• SEIU 1021

•  Green Party of Alameda County

Janani Ramachandran

ASATA Power Position: Councilwoman Ramachandran is running unopposed for re-election to Oakland City Council District 4. While our sister organization, ASATA, has had a long working relationship with the Councilwoman and ASATA Power is grateful for her recent sign-on to the Oakland Arms Embargo Campaign, our membership is disappointed in Councilwoman Ramachandran's continued support for Flock surveillance in the Oakland through her yes vote to to approve a two-year, $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety on December 16, 2025. Our members - and the broader progressive South Asian community - strongly believe that mass surveillance by private corporations with limited to no guardrails and the mass abuse that we're seeing of the Flock and similar automated license plate reader technology does not make our communities safer. If anything, it puts women and people of color at increased risk of stalking, being profiled or wrongly accused. Moreover, Flock has a chilling effect on our fundamental rights to free speech and protest as we see this technology being turned against protestors as well. In this moment of growing authoritarianism, we demand that Councilwoman Ramachandran listen to her constituents and call on her to cancel the Flock contract. 

Aziz Akbari

Endorsement: With a large South Asian community and several members in the city of Fremont, ASATA Power is endorsing Aziz Akbari in Fremont City Council. With a focus on affordability and equal access for all communities, Mr. Akbari's campaign in particular is highlighting the need to continue fighting against racism and Islamophobia - issues that are critical to the ASATA Power community . In his response to our questions, Mr. Akbari shared his deep support of immigrant and communities of color, and his focus on making Fremont - and the Bay Area - more affordable for all people. We want to highlight just a few of his key positions from his candidate questionnaire. 

Key Positions:

• Support for ending caste-based discrimination

• Calls to create an immigration legal fund by the city

• Support for ceasefire resolution and support for an arms embargo to Israel

• With a background in cybersecurity, understands the risk that automated license plate readers like Flock have for our communities and opposes the use of Flock, which make our communities less safe.

• A broad vision for community safety that puts communities at the center

• A comprehensive plan around affordability that includes rent stabilization, more affordable housing, housing around transit, support for a minimum wage increases to account for inflation, and support for small businesses.

Organizations Endorsements

• Democrats for Palestinian Rights – Bay Area

• CAIR Action

• Sikh Community Organized for Political Engagement

• Moms Demand Action

• Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte

• Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County

Adriana Valencia

Endorsement: ASATA Power members are actively engaged on environmental justice issues and believe deeply that  strong public transit is necessary for our communities and for the health of the planet. As such, we're excited to endorse Adriana Valencia for this key AC Transit position. Ms. Valencia provided thoughtful answers in our candidate questionnaire that demonstrated how deeply she cares about racial justice and equal access for our communities. Some of her key positions that we'd like to highlight are:

Key Positions:

• ICE should not have access to AC Transit specifically and supports an overall call to abolish ICE more generally

• Clearing clear, accessible pathways for all people - regardless of documentation - to access and use transit 

• Support for divestment from the state of Israel and supports a call to end the genocide in Gaza

• Against the use of Flock on our communities

For the general election, ASATA Power is opting to not make an endorsement in the Governor or other state-wide races in California so we could focus on other key races. 

As an organization committed to the fight for climate justice, ASATA Power is also strongly endorsing the Regional Transit Measure (RTM). This measure is critical for protecting transit across the Bay Area. A no vote would be disastrous - potentially cutting BART service by 70%, MUNI service by 50%, cutting Caltrain to running only once an hour - and so much more. This will decimate people's ability to get to work and school, and have irreversible impacts on our environment and climate.