Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor led a crowded field in early returns as Mayor Libby Schaaf steps down from office.
Taylor, a first-term councilman, led with 34.2 percent of the vote early Wednesday, with all precincts reported, according to ACVote, run by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.
He was followed by Councilwoman Sheng Thao, with Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, ACLU attorney Allyssa Victory and Councilwoman Treva Reid trailing further behind among a field of 10 candidates vying to succeed Schaaf in the city’s top elected seat, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Thao took 28.7 percent of the vote, followed by De La Fuente at 12.9 percent, Victory at 6.9 percent and Reid at 5.9 percent.
The race is conducted by ranked choice voting, which will take several tallies to determine the next Oakland mayor. Voters can choose up to five candidates, ranked first to fifth. As the candidate with the least votes drops out, those votes are redistributed.
The shuffled votes could prove decisive if the race between Taylor and Thao remains tight.
“It looks like it’s going to be a long night — maybe even a long few days — until we get the final results,” Taylor told the Mercury News Tuesday evening, as the results began coming in. “But I’m confident that this kid from Oakland – this hometown kid right here – at the end of the counting, will be this city’s next mayor.”
Taylor, Thao and Reid are incumbent council members in their first terms, while De La Fuente had served two decades as a councilman but has been out of politics for a decade.
De La Fuente was heavily backed by Los Angeles-based JMB Capital, which plans to ship coal through the West Oakland terminal. Thao was heavily backed by labor interests.
Taylor and Reid campaigned together in the final weeks before Election Day, telling voters to list them first- and second-place in ranked-choice voting.
Taylor and Thao have clashed for weeks after an Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce poll revealed them to be ahead of the pack in a tight race.
As incumbent council members, both claimed law enforcement was adequately funded, before saying the city should hire more cops and fund new police academies.
Whoever is elected will have to tackle a spike in violent crime and homelessness and a lack of affordable housing, while the city’s business community demands action to revive the city’s flagging downtown.
Oakland must also deal with the future of the A’s, and whether the baseball team would build a $12 billion, mixed-use ballpark development at Howard Terminal or skip town for Las Vegas.
— Dana Bartholomew
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