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Oakland resident Anne Fulton, 47, last week filed the paperwork to challenge long-serving Commissioner Sal Ramos for Seat 3 on the town commission in the 2026 March election.
Kris Keller has also filed to run for Seat 1, which she was appointed to after Commissioner Rick Polland withdrew from the commission at the end of 2024 following nearly 13 years of service. Seat 4, currently held by Commissioner Joseph McMullen, is also up for election.
“ I'd gone back and forth. I'm like, Do I really have the time to do this? Then I thought, you know what? I've been running my mouth for two years, saying that people need to step up and stop being complacent and stop being apathetic to the things that go on around here, so I better do what I've been preaching about for two years,” Fulton told VoxPopuli earlier Tuesday. “So I put in my paperwork, and now I’m ready to rock and roll.”
Ramos did not respond to a request for comment.
An insurance adjuster and self-described West Orange High School “band mom,” Fulton, who has lived in Oakland with her family for 15 years, is perhaps best known for spearheading a recall campaign to oust Polland and Commissioner Joseph McMullen for their roles in nominating Ramos to retake his seat after his failed 2023 mayoral bid. (Scoring sheets later showed there were other objectively more qualified candidates who wanted to serve the town on the commission.)
Ramos stayed on the commission. The recall bid fizzled. But the Johns Landing resident bided her time, and now Fulton's back and ready to fight for Oakland's people.
“We’ve all been in commission meetings where we've witnessed or experienced being dismissed, or felt we've been dismissed, we've been talked down to," she said. "I want to give people a voice."
She nodded to the oft-perceived divide between longtime Oaklanders and new arrivals.
“I know that there are essentially two sides to Oakland," Fulton said. “Unfortunately a lot of the long-timers feel that they are more Oakland than the new Oakland residents. I want to be a voice for both sides of Oakland. I want to help bridge the gap between the lifelong Oaklanders and the new Oaklanders. Everyone deserves to be here. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard. In sitting down at the table with both sides of Oakland and hearing their dreams and aspirations, not only for the people living here now, but for the future generations, then we can find common ground together and work our way forward.”
The election will be held March 10, 2026. Candidates can qualify by collecting 100 petition signatures from Oakland residents or by paying a $105.99 filing fee. The petition qualifying period is 8 a.m. Nov. 17 to 5 p.m. Dec. 2. The fee qualifying period is 8 a.m. Dec. 3 to Dec. 8, 3 p.m.
