{"id":38377,"date":"2024-12-22T11:59:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T19:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=38377"},"modified":"2024-12-22T11:59:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T19:59:43","slug":"barbara-lee-lays-out-timeline-for-her-decision-on-oakland-mayors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/22\/barbara-lee-lays-out-timeline-for-her-decision-on-oakland-mayors-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbara Lee lays out timeline for her decision on Oakland mayor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Joe Garofoli<\/a>,Senior Political Writer Dec 20, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Barbara Lee appears at the Democrats of Rossmoor, a large Democratic club at the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek on March 15, 2023. She said Friday that she will decide by early January whether she will run for mayor of Oakland.<\/p><\/span><\/span>Gabrielle Lurie\/The Chronicle<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, who is ending her congressional career next month, said Friday that she will decide by early January whether she will run<\/a> for mayor of Oakland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakland will hold an election in April to elect someone to finish the rest of the term of Sheng Thao, who voters recalled in November. Nikki Fortunato Bas will be interim mayor until she is sworn in next month to her new job as an Alameda County supervisor. The city council will then choose who will serve until the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next mayor will have to confront the city\u2019s brutal financial picture, as council members are grappling with closing\u00a0a $130 million deficit<\/a>. A group of labor, business and community leaders this week published an open letter\u00a0urging Lee to run<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur city needs someone who can restore integrity to the office of the Mayor, unite us in a time of division,\u201d the one-page letter read<\/a>, \u201cand help us address critical issues around the budget, public safety, housing, and inequity in our Town. We need someone who can bring the new ideas, policies, resources and opportunities that the people of Oakland deserve. That person is Barbara Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee has declined to talk about running until she posted a message Friday<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decision to run for Mayor of Oakland, a city that I have long called home, is not one I take lightly,\u201d Lee wrote.  \u201cAs my time in Congress wraps up, my current priority is navigating the crisis before us in DC. I am working around the clock to reach a deal that will keep our government open and provide critical resources for my district. I will announce my intentions in early January.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee did not seek reelection to the House seat she has held since 1998, and instead chose to run for Senate. She finished fourth in the primary behind Adam Schiff, who went on to win and joined the Senate this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others who have announced their intention to run include former City Council Member Loren Taylor, who lost to Thao by 677 votes in 2022, Renia Webb, a former Thao staffer, and Republican Mindy Pechenuk, a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Joe Garofoli: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com<\/a>; X: @joegarofoli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 20, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Joe Garofoli<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle\u2019s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of \u201cIt\u2019s All Political,\u201d The Chronicle\u2019s political podcast. Catch it here: bit.ly\/2LSAUjA<\/a>He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy \u2014 which he discussed on NPR\u2019s \u201cTalk of the Nation\u201d after being told he couldn\u2019t say the word \u201cballs\u201d on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Joe Garofoli,Senior Political Writer Dec 20, 2024 (SFChronicle.com) Rep. Barbara Lee appears at the Democrats of Rossmoor, a large Democratic club at the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek on March 15, 2023. She said Friday that she will decide by early January whether she will run for mayor of… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38379,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38377\/revisions\/38379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}