Barbara Lee, a longtime progressive former Congresswoman, announced her victory Saturday in the special election to elect the next Oakland mayor after challenger Loren Taylor conceded.
Taylor said on Saturday that he called Lee after the most recent election update showed her leading.
“This morning, I called Congresswoman Barbara Lee to congratulate her on becoming the next Mayor of Oakland,” Taylor said in a statement. “Thanks to the heart, grit, and vision of our fearless team and supporters, we built a movement that resonated across Oakland, echoing the national conversation about the Democratic Party’s waning relevance as it prioritizes old-guard politics over improving the lives of ordinary people.
I hope that Mayor-Elect Lee follows through on her promise to unify Oakland by authentically engaging the 47% of Oakland voters who supported me and want pragmatic, results-driven leadership.”
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters released the most recent election results on Friday, which showed Lee leading Taylor by nearly 5,000 votes. According to the county registrar, Lee has 50.6% of the vote, while a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote to win. The next election update will come on April 25.
“While I strongly believe in respecting the democratic voting process, and ballots will continue to be counted until Tuesday, the results show that the people of Oakland have elected me as their next Mayor. “Thank you, Oakland,” Lee wrote in a statement.
District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston congratulated Lee on Friday, prior to Taylor’s concession.
“She is humble. She’s like, “Wait until it’s over,” as she should be. Houston said, “You can’t catch up with 5,000 more votes, because the people spoke.”
Lee, a Democrat, represented Oakland in Congress from 1998 until he resigned in January. Last year, she ran an unsuccessful campaign for the late Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat. She had previously served in the California State Assembly for six years and the state Senate for two. She received her undergraduate degree from Mills College in Oakland and a master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley.
Oakland uses a ranked-choice system. It allows voters to vote for their first choice and then rank other candidates in order of preference. After the first count, if neither of the two leading candidates receives more than 50% of the votes, they are allowed to collect the “ranked” votes cast for them in order, until one receives more than half the votes.
“We intend to hit the ground running,” he said.
Lee and Taylor were widely regarded as the frontrunners in the race, which had a crowded field of ten candidates. The race was sparked by voters recalling Sheng Thao from the mayor’s office last year.