Don't Vote For Brian Donahue For School Board

 Please Don’t Vote For Me

I Want Something From You, Just Not Your Vote

Fourth in a series about Emeryville’s public schools for election 2026

Opinion / News Analysis

By Brian Donahue

I’m the editor of the Emeryville Tattler, I’m running for Emery School Board and I do not want your vote.  Got that?  I can make this surprising statement because I’m only running to force an election in November at the school district so some new people can become board members, not me.  

I forced the election when I completed my paperwork and registered as an official candidate with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters back in August.  Because I registered and therefore forced an election to happen, other candidates subsequently also registered to run and now there is going to be an election for school board in November in Emeryville.  The Alameda County rule that cancels elections if incumbents are the only candidates running, will not be in effect this time (this was explained in the Tattler’s August 7 story).  For purposes of this, the Tattler’s fourth installment of our 2026 look at Emery schools and the upcoming school board election, I want the people of Emeryville to know I do not want your vote.

Although I don’t want you to vote for me, I do want you to care about good government and I want you to hold bad public servants to account. I want everyone to pay attention to the public schools in Emeryville because we owe it to our children to care about and provide for their education, and because we pay our hard earned money for our government and we expect results.

Because I will not be a school board member by my choice, my name, though on the ballot, is not going to be a viable choice for voters.  You will have to decide who to trust running our schools; the two incumbents running for re-election, or the two newcomers who, unlike me, want to win and are running election campaigns this year.

Emeryville’s public school district is the worst run district in Alameda County and its also the most expensive.  I explained this at length in our viral September 16 story.  The take-away for voters should be to not vote for the incumbents.  You should not vote for me either.  That leaves the two newbies that are running. The Tattler will address that in story number five in our series on the schools and school board election.

You can thank me for running and forcing the incumbents to face the voters this year if you want but do not vote for me.  I don't want the job of running the schools and I will not take the job.  I am interested in reporting on the schools, not running them.

The Tattler Emery school board 2026 election series:

1st in the series: Why I’m running HERE

2nd in the series: Questions for candidates HERE

3rd in the series: Emery’s failing schools HERE