Should Erin Armstrong be elected to the Oakland City Council's District 5 seat November 5, she would become the first transgender city council member in the Bay Area. While aware of her potential to break through the political glass ceiling of local politics, Armstrong had more matter-of-fact reasons for why she entered the race.
"I am focused on clean streets, safe neighborhoods, and basic city services," said Armstrong, adding of her gender identity, "it is always there and always comes up at interesting times. It is why its so important to have people with this lived experience in positions of leadership."
She is no stranger to breaking through barriers. As she notes on her campaign site, Armstrong was one of the first openly transgender women to attend Mills College, the historically all-women's school that recently merged with the all-gender Northeastern University.
In 2007, she vlogged about her gender transition on YouTube, believed to be the first trans woman to do so. It caught the attention of Rolling Stone magazine, which called it "the hot way to come out," recalled Armstrong in a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter about her council bid.
Now, she is believed to be the only trans candidate seeking a council seat in the Bay Area this fall.
"It just so happens I am the first wherever I go," quipped Armstrong, 39, who grew up as one of five siblings in a Mormon family in Utah.
In order to take her seat inside Oakland City Hall, Armstrong must first defeat incumbent City Councilmember Noel Gallo. He first won election to the council in 2012 and previously had served two decades as an Oakland school board member.
Defeating a well-known local politician as a first-time candidate is never an easy task. And Armstrong initially had pulled papers to seek the council's at-large seat, which is open for the first time in 16 years.
But with a crowded field — 10 people made it onto the ballot in that race, including the city's former police chief who shares the same last name as Armstrong — and numerous people asking her why she wasn't running for her council district seat, Armstrong decided to challenge Gallo. One deciding factor, she told the B.A.R., was seeing that he only netted 51% of the vote four years ago when two people ran against him.
It was a margin of victory she felt she could swing to her candidacy.
"I went back and did a really deep analysis in District 5 looking at past voting trends, strengths and weaknesses, and what I could do. I saw a path to winning," said Armstrong, a senior policy adviser to Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley.
Also in the council race is restaurant owner Dominic Prado. Oakland uses ranked-choice voting, so if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the first round then the person with the least votes is eliminated and their voters' second choice will be tabulated in order to declare a winner. In 2020, Gallo won outright on the first round.
Having run Miley's reelection campaign in 2020 as his campaign manager, and having served as a field director in 2018 on a successful Alameda County early education funding measure, Armstrong said she is applying the lessons learned from those races to her own. At least three to four days a week she has been canvassing the district and already has knocked on more than 2,000 doors of voters.
"The campaign part is second nature to me," said Armstrong, though raising money she told the B.A.R. has been difficult with many people telling her they're focusing their donations to this year's presidential race. "The way I am winning this race is all about voter engagement."
What she has been hearing from the people she has met is that they are unhappy with the direction of the city amid a spike in crime and news of countless business closures. Their dissatisfaction also translates to their council representative, said Armstrong.
"I have had hundreds of conversations and I hear the same thing over and over. 'He doesn't pick up the phone. He doesn't return our emails. He is completely unresponsive. We don't even know what he does.' I think people are hungry for change in D5," said Armstrong.
Gallo, in his early 70s, didn't respond to the B.A.R.'s questionnaire sent to candidates or interview requests about his candidacy. According to his website, out Oakland City Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan, who is stepping down as the at-large seat holder, and Janani Ramachandran, who represents District 4, are among the elected leaders who have endorsed Gallo's reelection bid.
Also among his endorsers are gay Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan and partners Richard Fuentes and Sean Sullivan, who co-own downtown Oakland LGBTQ bar Fluid 510. As for Miley, he is listed as an endorser of both Gallo's and Armstrong's candidacies.
Warren Logan, a gay man running against District 3 Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife, and gay Alameda Unified School District board member Ryan LaLonde are supporting Armstrong, as is LPAC, which works to elect LGBTQ women and nonbinary candidates to elected office across the U.S. Armstrong is awaiting word on endorsements from other LGBTQ political groups.
Two years ago, she had voted for trans dad Nick Resnick, who was initially declared the winner of his Oakland school board race. Seeing his win be declared void due to a tabulation mistake by the county registrar was "difficult," said Armstrong, as Resnick would have been one of a few trans elected officials in the state.
"I have always felt that lack of trans leadership. It is just not now," said Armstrong. "But obviously, we are very public targets right now for the Republican Party in this country and one of the culture wars they are waging."
She had been subjected to anti-trans hate due to her online presence during her transition. But Armstrong said it paled to what is occurring today.
"You can believe I have experienced the brunt of a lot of hate and a lot of this culture war, but I saw it get worse. It has never been as bad as it is today," she said. "A part of it, I think, is the visibility that trans people have been able to achieve."
She sees her running for office as part of the journey she has been on since coming out as trans.
"My whole journey, my whole adult life has been about creating this narrative around who trans people are and what they can achieve. Running for office is now the latest part of showing what that narrative is," said Armstrong.
Fell in love with Oakland
Fifteen years ago, Armstrong and her wife, Morgan Pulleyblank, executive director for the Northern California chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, first moved to Oakland. They currently live in the city's Fruitvale neighborhood.
They had met in New York, where Armstrong had moved to at age 20 a year after starting her gender transition. After a May snowfall, the couple decided to head west.
"We landed in Oakland and just fell in love with the city. It has been our home ever since," said Armstrong.
The couple are homeowners and moms to 3-year-old daughter Matilda, which means "battle maiden" in German. They picked the name since she was born 11 weeks early.
From 2010 to 2013 Armstrong had worked as the program coordinator for Trans:Thrive, a provider of trans services that is part of the nonprofit San Francisco Community Health Center. Seeing the Republican-led House at the time cut federal funding for such programs prompted Armstrong to seek her master's in business administration and public policy; she first enrolled at an Oakland community college then transferred to Mills.
"I decided to go back to school to learn about policy and elevate that grassroots experience I had working with the community up to the policy level," said Armstrong.
Raised in Lindon, Utah, a small city about an hour south of Salt Lake City, Armstrong is no longer a practicing Mormon. For three years in her early 30s, she had a strained relationship with her immediate family who didn't want her talking to their relatives due to being a queer trans woman.
"They refused to accept my identity or use my name or pronouns, things like that. It did get to the point I had cut them out of my life when we moved to Oakland," said Armstrong, who has since reconciled with her relatives. "The happy thing is my parents are both great advocates and supporters for trans rights."
Her father, Bruce Armstrong, a lifelong Republican now divorced, has addressed his state Legislature to speak against anti-trans bills. He told the B.A.R. he isn't surprised by his daughter's interest in politics. Of his five children, she was the only one who ever did when they were growing up.
"Just my great example, obviously," he joked when asked why he thought that was.
While he is involved in conservative grassroots politics, he said it doesn't negate their being able to talk about civic matters. It is a strength that will serve his daughter well if elected to the council seat, he said.
"She respects both sides of an issue," said Bruce Armstrong, 65, who is in the process of turning over ownership of his property management company to one of his sons. "We often talk about politics and we often disagree, but we never fight. We never take it personally and we try to learn from each other."
Admittedly, he said it took the family some time, being "deep in Mormonville and completely clueless" about trans and queer issues, to fully understand and embrace his daughter after she came out. Now, he and his girlfriend plan to come out and canvass for Armstrong in the coming weeks.
"I am extremely proud of Erin and the person she has become," said Bruce Armstrong. "Her efforts to help other people and be a force for good in the world, I could not ask for more. She is an amazing person and she has done extremely well."
Armstrong will be marching in this Sunday's Oakland Pride parade with U.S. House candidate Lateefah Simon, a BART board member she first met while at Mills and now serves in her "kitchen cabinet." Afterward, Armstrong will have a booth at the festival grounds.
To bolster her campaign coffers, Armstrong has so far raised $17,000 toward a goal of $50,000, she is hosting a fundraiser to mark turning 40 next month. It will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, October 5, at the Aloha Club at 952 Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland.
Political Notes, the notebook's online companion, returns Monday, September 9.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!