Wilma Chan

On November 3, 2021, while walking her dog, Chan was struck and killed by a vehicle in the City of Alameda, California.

On November 3, 2021, while walking her dog, Chan was struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Shore Line Drive and Grand Street in Alameda. She suffered major head injuries and was transported to Highland Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 2:30 p.m. after unsuccessful life-saving efforts.

In 2010, Chan ran for her old seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. and won with 54.6% of the vote. She was re-elected unopposed in 2014 and 2018, as a nonpartisan candidate. In 2015, she abandoned another attempt to run for State Senate District 9 because of the fundraising required.

In 2008 Chan ran for the District 9 seat against current Berkeley Assembly member Loni Hancock. The race was hard-fought and controversial. On May 29 on KQED's Forum show, Chan acknowledged that she sent campaign mailers featuring a large photo of Barack Obama without his endorsement and without his permission. There was a great deal of confusion over who incumbent Senator Perata supported, with both Hancock and Chan claiming his endorsement in direct mail and robocalls. Loni Hancock bested Chan in a low-turnout Democratic primary in June 2008.

In 2003, Chan considered running for Don Perata's State Senate District 9 seat. Because Perata had won his seat during a special election, it was unclear whether he would be termed out in 2004. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued a legal opinion declaring that it was within California term limits law for Perata to stand for reelection. Chan hired her own lawyers who offered the opposite finding, but she did not challenge Perata in the primary or contest Lockyer's findings. In 2005, Chan briefly considered a run for Alameda County Board of Supervisors, District 3, but decided against because she wanted to focus her attention on legislating in 2006 and on her 2008 Senate campaign [1].

Chan declared her candidacy for California Assembly District 16 by mid-June 1999. In her campaign she highlighted the need for more Asian American representation in the Assembly. Former Oakland mayor Elihu Harris briefly entered the Democratic primary but dropped out, leaving Chan unopposed. She won the primary with over 80% of all votes cast and in the general election defeated the incumbent, Audie Bock, with over two-thirds of all votes cast.

Chan won election to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 1994, the first Asian American to do so, and was reelected unopposed in 1998. In 2000, while serving as President of the board, she was elected to the California State Assembly and resigned her seat on the board.

From the late 1960s into the 1980s Chan was active in Bay Area far-left radical political movements, as a member of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L). For a time, she served as the Chairperson of the National Asian Struggles Commission within the LRS.

Wilma Chan (Chinese: 陳煥瑛; pinyin: Chén Huànyīng; October 5, 1949 – November 3, 2021) was an American politician in California serving on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. A Democrat, she served in the California State Assembly from 2000 to 2006 before being termed out, representing the 16th District, which at the time included Oakland, Alameda, and Piedmont. She served as Assembly Majority Whip from 2001 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2004 as Assembly Majority Leader, the first woman and the first Asian American to hold the position. In 2008, Chan lost a Democratic Party primary election for the California State Senate District 9 seat.