• While the region is 60 percent people of color, people of color hold just 34 percent of top local elected offices.

• Regionwide, men are overrepresented in top elected positions, but women have gained ground, increasing their share of seats to 47 percent as of January 2021, from 40 percent in July 2018.

• APIs and Latinos continue to be sorely underrepresented among local electeds. Latinx and APIs make up half of the region’s population but are just 24 percent of top local elected officials.

• Among the nine counties, San Mateo County has the highest overrepresentation of White elected officials compared to its population as a whole. 

In the past, Blacks were stripped of voting rights through violence, poll taxes, residency requirements, and literacy tests (which did not apply to illiterate Whites). Gerrymandering – the drawing of district lines to increase the odds of one group winning an election over another – was used in the past, and today, to dilute the political power of people of color. This is exacerbated in areas where people of color are geographically dispersed and is particularly true in at-large elections where one candidate represents several districts. Long hours and low pay for electoral work, and the high cost of running a campaign disproportionately disadvantages people of color and low-income candidates who have far less wealth than more affluent candidates who tend to be White. The increasing flood of money into local campaigns adds to this financial challenge. Immigrant communities can have an understandable mistrust of government based on past experiences in their home countries. With so few electeds from working-class communities of color, there is little legacy of running for office, few role models, and little support for or knowledge of how to become a politician.

• Establish public campaign financing that addresses funding barriers for people of color seeking office. 
• Pass campaign financing reforms that limit "pay-to-play" politics and the influence of big money in local elections.
• Consider switching from at-large to district-based elections.
• Expand leadership development programs that prepare people from low-income communities and communities of color to run for and win elected office, and to effectively engage in public policy.
• Strengthen democracy by increasing participation of marginalized groups and expanding voting rights (and preventing rollback).
• Foster racial inclusion in governance and multiracial alliances, coalitions, and movements to advance policy change.

• Organizations: Bay Rising; California Calls; California Civic Engagement Project
• Reports: Increasing Voter Participation in San Francisco; Unleashing Latino Voting Power: Strategies to Boost Voter Participation Among Latino Youth; Designing Public Financing Systems to Advance Equity and Independent Political Power