Those who have run campaigns in District 7 know it is a hard district to win in an election.
The district, encompassing about 30 blocks and centered on the Southside neighborhood, is dominated by a supermajority of students, many of whom do not engage in city politics or register to vote in Berkeley.
In the 2024 special election, current District 7 Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra was elected with only 291 votes in a district of about 15,500 residents. Heading into this November’s elections, Lunaparra’s endorsed candidate, Syrak Micael, is pushing to get more students to the polls.
Starting at 4 p.m. Friday, Micael and his campaign canvassed outside of Unit 3 and Blackwell Hall, the latest in a series of canvassing events held at UC Berkeley student residence halls.
“One of the biggest problems has been convincing people that they have a stake in Berkeley,” said one of Micael’s campaign staffers, Marissa Oaks English, at the group’s table.
Soli Alpert, a longtime feature in Berkeley politics who now serves as chair of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board and Micael’s campaign manager, estimated that 80% of students do not know about the race or Micael’s role in it.
Armed with a pile of voter registration forms, staffers and volunteers walked students through the process of registering to vote in Berkeley. Campaign staff said many students do not understand that they can register to vote in Berkeley even while living in campus residence halls.
At stake in getting more students registered, according to Micael’s campaign and his allies, is whether or not the students that live in Southside will decide its political future.
“If we have 40,000 students that are here, they should be getting represented at the local level,” said rent board candidate and UC Berkeley undergraduate student Derek Rodriguez, who showed up to canvass with Micael.
Micael, who graduated from UC Berkeley in December 2025, has drawn in a grab bag of student support, in addition to the endorsement of a host of incumbent city officials including Mayor Adena Ishii. He has been endorsed by student leaders such as ASUC President Margaret Solomon and has enjoyed advocacy from campus organizations such as Cal Berkeley Democrats.
The Micael campaign has tried to elevate issues close to students, ranging from opposing mass surveillance technology such as Flock Safety cameras to advocating for tenant rights, affordable housing and increased wages in the city.
Micael himself has deep roots in Southside. He grew up in the district as the son of Eritrean immigrants and went to Berkeley High School and Berkeley City College before transferring to UC Berkeley.
Once at UC Berkeley, Micael was elected Transfer Student Representative for the ASUC. Former ASUC members who worked with Micael have described him in interviews as a natural fit for political office.
Micael’s mother, aunt and grandmother all joined him at the canvassing event Friday. So did his dog, Parker, whom his mother said he named after the intersection of his childhood home at Parker and Dana streets.
“At first I was like, ‘Why don’t you go to law school?’” said Micael’s mother, Kidisti Araya. “But I just love how passionate he is.”
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Micael was appointed to the city’s Housing Advisory Commission by Lunaparra.
In an inflammatory video posted to Instagram in August, Micael’s opponent in the race, Aidan Hill, slammed him for his vote on the HAC to fund supportive housing at People’s Park.
Micael’s campaign has opted for a less aggressive strategy when it comes to public messaging.
“I don’t think that’s what politics is about,” he said Friday. “The campaign is about developing a coalition to actually get this s— done.”
Should he win the election in November, Micael will inherit a political dynasty of UC Berkeley students-turned-city-council-members that began with the election of Rigel Robinson in 2018 and then Lunaparra in 2024.
Lunaparra has thrown her weight behind Micael throughout the race. Alpert, who previously helped manage Robinson’s campaign, said he joined Micael’s campaign after Lunaparra’s Chief of Staff Jonah Gottlieb called and asked him to.
During the canvassing event Friday, one of Micael’s staffers arrived with new fold-out pamphlets for the campaign, visually inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign. The flyers were meant to double as informative pamphlets as well as window signs for local businesses, according to Oaks English.
Micael and Alpert left the table shortly thereafter, flyers in hand, and went door to door asking businesses if they could put the signs up on their storefronts. Many of the business owners knew Micael.
As they walked around Friday, Alpert said he is extremely confident Micael will win. Micael said he was less certain.
“We’re not just convincing people to vote for us, we’re convincing them to register to vote,” he said. “Vote, period.”
At the door to one of Southside’s student favorites, My-O-My Shawarma, Micael remarked, “These are the make or breaks.”
His sign now hangs directly on the entrance.