Barack Denzel Obama Shaw has entered California’s governor race, and his name is doing much of the talking for him. The Alameda candidate is one of 61 people running for governor, a crowded field in which his ballot name is already standing out.
For voters scanning a long list of candidates, Shaw’s name is impossible to miss. He legally changed it in 2013, long before he sought office, and says it reflects respect and admiration for former President Barack Obama and actor Denzel Washington. He said the name also honors his father, a musician who appeared on Soul Train in the 1970s, and his grandfather, whom he said was mentioned as an associate of Ray Charles in the elder Shaw’s autobiography.
Shaw said the name carries a larger meaning too. He has described Obama as a figure who showed him that a person like him could reach the presidency, at a time when many people around him did not think that would happen in their lifetime. He said, in effect, that the name represents Obama, Denzel, his father, his grandfather and himself.
The 2022 mayoral race in Alameda showed that Shaw was not just trying to get attention. He ran for city mayor because he said he wanted to make a difference, especially among Black people, and finished third with 6% of the vote. After that race, he launched his bid for governor and has kept working as a fixture in Alameda, where he works at the Alameda Theater, hosts Alameda’s Got Talent and teaches children to play music.
His campaign is built around lowering homelessness, expanding housing options and raising state revenue, but Shaw has also tried to project a practical streak on the national stage. He said he is open to working with President Donald Trump and that he respects the office even though he disagrees with Trump’s policies. Coming from someone who spent eight years in the U.S. military reserves, he framed that as a matter of discipline: respect the rank, even when he does not like the person holding it.
That leaves Shaw with a campaign that is easy to notice and harder to measure. His name may draw eyes on the ballot, but his political reach in a field of 61 candidates is still the question voters will answer next.
