Professor Emeritus Robert Smith Comments on State Assembly Race in East Bay

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Robert Smith, a professor emeritus of Political Science at San Francisco State University, who closely watches East Bay politics, said that Beckles’ identity probably won’t help her.

“I don’t think voters in Richmond or Berkeley vote very much on racial or ethnic lines,” Smith said. “I think it’s always been more about ideology, and of course the district is majority white so I wouldn’t expect her to make a big deal of it.”