Barbara Lee Elected Mayor of Oakland Over Loren Taylor

Former Rep. Barbara Lee is the new mayor of Oakland, taking a resounding lead over Loren Taylor.

The retired congressmember won the seat with 52.6 percent of the vote to 47.3 percent held by former Councilmember Loren Taylor, the East Bay Times reported, citing late Friday election results.

The latest returns gave Lee a 5,000-vote advantage over Taylor, providing her with an outright victory without the need for a runoff election, should the final results hold.

Lee said the results were encouraging, saying she’d run “to unite our community.” Taylor conceded the victory on Saturday, saying he’ll continue “pushing for the equity, safety and opportunity every Oaklander deserves.”

Lee will now lead a city that has faced a leadership vacuum following the removal of disgraced ex-Mayor Sheng Thao last fall.

Lee’s star power made her the early favorite, but she faced a formidable challenge from Taylor, who took an early lead on election night — just as he did before losing to Thao in the 2022 election, according to the East Bay Times.

The matchup mirrored the moderate challenge by Daniel Lurie, who edged out Mayor London Breed in San Francisco, as well as moderates prevailing in a district attorney’s race in Los Angeles.

Taylor, considered a moderate, had pledged for more pragmatic leadership, while challenging the political power of the city’s labor unions. He’d vowed to take a wrecking ball to a government he described as fundamentally broken.

Lee, a progressive icon and 26-year veteran of Congress before retiring last year, possessed a political gravity widely seen as too strong for any challenger to overcome. She had pledged to unify labor and business in a city that grew deeply divided during Thao’s tenure.

The special election ended a five-month transition for Oakland, after 60 percent of voters removed Thao from office in November. She was charged with bribery and conspiracy in a federal indictment early this year.

Taylor and Lee were widely seen as frontrunners in the 10-candidate race, according to the East Bay Times. Only one other candidate besides them had received 1 percent of the vote after Friday’s returns.

There was a marked divide in where the respective candidates’ votes came from.

Lee is leading in precincts across West Oakland, downtown and east of Lake Merritt, across the flatlands to the border of San Leandro.

Taylor’s support was more concentrated in the Oakland hills, where wealthier and more politically moderate neighborhoods have a higher voter turnout than in lower-income parts of town.

— Dana Bartholomew