Former Councilmember Loren Taylor holds a narrow lead over former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee in a special election to become Oakland’s mayor.
After nine rounds of ranked choice voting, Taylor secured 51.17% of votes, compared with Lee’s 48.83%, with all 108 precincts reporting late Tuesday.
Although ballot processing will continue for the rest of the week, the Alameda County registrar of voters was not expected to share additional results until Friday.
“Our city government is nearly broke, but we will turn things around, because this city is rich,” Taylor said Tuesday evening, according to ABC7. “We are rich with pride. Pride that persists in love for all things 510.”
The special election was called following the ouster of Mayor Sheng Thao, who lost a recall vote in November. Taylor, an engineer from East Oakland, lost the 2022 mayoral election to Thao by fewer than 700 votes. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Thao’s term.
Lee was a member of Congress for 26 years, representing Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda.
Days after Lee announced she would run for mayor in January, Thao was indicted for bribery by federal authorities alongside her boyfriend Andre Jones and two brothers from the Duong family, owners of California Waste Solutions.
In the wake of Thao’s recall, two other officials have briefly filled in as the East Bay city’s mayor. Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas briefly served as interim mayor until Councilmember Kevin Jenkins’ appointment to the role. Fortunato Bas won her election last November to become an Alameda County supervisor.
Tuesday’s special election saw a 19.55% turnout among Oakland’s 250,800 registered voters, with 44,796 ballots cast by mail and 4,246 cast at nine voting centers.
Also on the ballot was the City Council District 2 race, in which Charlene Wang established a commanding lead, with 66.49% of votes, over Kara Murray-Badal’s 33.51% after five rounds of ranked choice voting.
City voters appeared to overwhelmingly approve Measure A, which would enact a 0.5% sales and use tax for 10 years in support of general government funding. The measure cleared a majority-vote requirement with 29,337 “yes” votes, or 64.24%, against 16,330 “no” votes, or 35.76%.