PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Berkeley, CA – October 28, 2026
According to the Independent Expenditure database maintained by the California Secretary of State, Uber, via the “Uber Innovation Political Action Committee,” spent more than $250,000 for digital ads on behalf of Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D) in early October 2026. This signals uncertainty about Wicks’ chances of victory despite being a 4-term incumbent.
Uber has massive incentives to keep Wicks in office. She was key in passing SB 371, which lowered driver insurance costs by 40% for Uber. The Sacramento Bee reported that Uber explicitly cited passage of SB 371 to justify million-dollar bonuses for two of their executives, according to SEC filings. CalMatters later found that Uber failed to disclose important information about its self-insurance arrangements when advocating for SB 371, namely that 95% of the company’s risk is insured by an Uber subsidiary.
Wicks, a Democrat, is facing off against Mark Rendón, a former public school teacher who is running with the Green Party. Over time, he has racked up a significant number of endorsements that indicate discontent with Wicks’ voting record: the Oakland Education Association (Rendón’s former union), United Teachers of Richmond, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and the California Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Rendón’s campaign is representative of a growing number of liberal-leaning voters that are dissatisfied with the Democratic Party.
Rendón is running a grassroots campaign that accepts no corporate or superPAC donations, in stark contrast to Wicks. Wicks, compared to all other members on the Appropriations Committee, has accepted the most corporate funds at a total of $793K, which is 27% above the average amount of $625K. 63% of her funds come from businesses, chiefly tech and real estate.
When asked about this decision to refuse corporate and superPAC donations, Rendón said, “This is an important commitment for me because it allows my campaign to embody one of the four pillars of the Green Party, which is grassroots democracy. I want to be accountable to only the voters, not corporations.”
Media Contact:
Valielza Huynh-O’Keefe
valielza.okeefe@gmail.com
(702) 686-4178
About Mark Rendón for State Assembly:
Mark Rendón is a longtime public educator, who taught music for 29 years as part of the Oakland Unified School District. An accomplished political organizer, he is running for State Assembly in AD-14, which includes Piedmont, Berkeley, Richmond, El Cerrito, and San Pablo. His campaign is focused on CalCare, single payer healthcare for Californians, social housing, free lifelong public education, a rapid transition to renewable energy, and divestment from genocide. For more information, please go to www.markrendon4ad14.com.