by Randy Shaw on March 24, 2025 (BeyondChron.org)
Lee v. Taylor: Voters Face Clear Choice
Oakland faces a mayoral election on April 15. The top two candidates are former Congress member Barbara Lee and former Council member Loren Taylor. They represent two distinct political coalitions with very different priorities.
Here’s my take on the race.
Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee was my congress member for her entire tenure. I am familiar with her record.
In 2001, Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing United States military force against those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Lee’s vote likely created the most widespread mantra surrounding a congress member’s vote in history: Barbara Lee Speaks for Me.
On cars, businesses, and t-shirts throughout Berkeley was the phrase, “Barbara Lee Speaks for Me.” Lee became a folk hero in her district and among progressives nationally. The title of a 2020 film about her is “Truth to Power: Barbara Lee Speaks for Me.”
When Lee announced her candidacy, I heard people saying “Of course I support her. Barbara Lee speaks for me.” The continued power of her 2001 vote may get her elected Oakland’s mayor.
But I’ve seen Oakland go down this path before.
I wrote an August 2005 story strongly encouraging Lee’s mentor, former Congressman Ron Dellums, to enter the November 2006 Oakland mayor’s race (See “Dellums Candidacy Could Ignite Progressive Activism”) Beyond Chron was full of stories promoting Dellums. I was among those predicting he would be the transformative mayor Oakland needed.
That’s not how it worked out. Many of us made a political calculation based on Dellums’ past, not his present or future.
Ron Dellums was a great congressmember who did more than give fiery speeches or symbolic votes; he understood how to work the congressional system to get things done.
Yet mayor of Oakland is a very different job. Dellums spent most of his congressional years living near the nation’s capitol; he didn’t really know Oakland politics.
Some questioned whether Dellums would be too old to serve as mayor. He took office soon after turning 71. Barbara Lee turns 79 in July.
Lee backers think the Dellums comparison is unfair. But both were older, retired politicians whose political life was focused 3000 miles from Oakland. Both sought a very wearying and time-consuming job after publicly announcing retirement.
I’ve heard Lee supporters say that Dellums never really wanted to be mayor but was pushed into it. I’m sure Barbara Lee does want to be mayor. But the political coalition that elected Sheng Thao only to have her recalled needed a candidate of similar ideology who could win—and nobody fit the bill better than Lee.
If Lee really wanted to be Oakland mayor, why did she not run in 2022? After all, she was planning on retiring from Congress. Lee’s attention after retiring then turned not to helping a city of Oakland in deep crisis but to running a statewide United States Senate campaign. Progressives turned to Sheng Thao in the 2022 mayor’s race because they had no strong alternative.
People were told not to worry about Sheng Thao’s lack of experience or her knowledge gaps. Her council allies were going to guide her in the right direction. That made sense to me. But it didn’t happen. Now similar claims are made to make up for Lee’s lack of experience in Oakland municipal affairs.
I understand why labor unions, current and former city officials and Oakland’s progressive infrastructure all are in for Barbara Lee. I think she faces a tougher fight than expected in an April election turnout likely to have a higher percentage of homeowners than in November. It’s an electorate more concerned with public safety than the one that narrowly elected Sheng Thao.
It’s also an electorate more likely to reflect the recall turnout than the statewide November 2022 election that brought Sheng Thao victory.
Lee opposed the recalls of both Sheng Thao and Alameda County DA Pamela Price. Both passed with roughly 60% of the vote. Some argue that they were primarily removed for personal failings rather than ideology; they don’t see that 60% pro-recall vote as automatically or even largely going to Taylor.
I don’t know about that. To the extent Taylor can make this election a referendum on the former Mayor and DA, voters may resist electing a candidate who wanted to keep deeply flawed officials in office.
Loren Taylor
Taylor got the most first-place votes in the November 2022 mayor’s race. He would have won if he had organized a better rank choice voting strategy with other moderate candidates.
Taylor is not part of the Oakland political establishment. He spent only one term on the council before bypassing re-election and running for mayor.
Taylor is the choice of those who see Oakland in deep crisis. A crisis reflected in crime, encampments, retail and apartment vacancies and a widespread dissatisfaction with how Oakland city government is run. Oakland’s day to day operations are actually managed by a City Administrator but most voters blame the mayor for problems.
Taylor has the great advantage of running against a troubled status quo. What’s not clear is if his campaign has enough money to get his message out.
Many Oakland voters are more focused on Trump’s attempt to impose an authoritarian government than on who becomes mayor of Oakland (a mayor that, despite Jerry Brown’s “strong mayor” ballot measure, remains far weaker than San Francisco’s). On the other hand, the voters most focused on local issues have historically been homeowners, and they will favor Taylor.
Can Oakland Recover?
In my 2018 book Generation Priced Out I discussed whether Oakland had done enough with its housing strategy to combat rising gentrification. Those debates sound like the good old days. What activists argued about before COVID triggered Oakland’s public safety crisis.
Oakland needs a mayor who will focus on stopping restaurants, bars and other businesses from closing due to repeated break-ins. A mayor who will ensure resources to stop carjacking in residential areas long considered safe. Public safety is now a pervasive issue, and likely to top most voters minds.
Barbara Lee’s huge name recognition and endorsement edge give her a solid chance at victory. But her opposition to popularly supported recalls and Taylor’s ability to run against the status quo make this a close election.
It’s likely to be decided by which constituencies cast ballots in an off-year election overshadowed by national affairs.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s new book is the revised and updated, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco. His prior books include Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.
