Elihu Harris

Who is Elihu Harris?

Elihu Mason Harris is a former U.S. Democratic Party politician and college administrator. He served as the 46th mayor of Oakland, California from 1991 to until 1999. He served for 12 years as a member of the California State Assembly before his election as Oakland mayor. He was the Chancellor of Peralta Community College District.

He earned an undergraduate degree in political science from California State University, East Bay. Harris received a Master of Public Policy from University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and law degree from University of California, Davis School of Law in 1972.

He was the Mayor of Oakland from 1991 until 1999. He has also served as a California Uniform Law Commissioner since 1981.

Harris co-owns Vallejo, California radio station KDIA along with former California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

Harris was the first major party politician to lose a state legislative race to a Green Party candidate, when he lost a race for California State Assembly to Audie Bock in 1999. In the 1999 election, Harris, an African-American, sent targeted mailers to households in selected precincts, mostly African American, urging voters to vote for him and receive a fried chicken meal if they presented a voting stub at selected supermarkets. There was voter backlash because of the perception of vote buying and had a subtext of racism. In his losing effort Harris outspent Bock better than 16 to 1.