SAN FRANCISCO — Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a prominent progressive Democrat who represented the East Bay in Congress for more than two decades, said Wednesday she will run for Oakland mayor in an April special election prompted by the recall of the city’s former leader.
“I’ve never shied away from a challenge,” Lee said in a news release announcing her candidacy. “I’m always ready to fight for Oakland. Together, we can and will restore Oakland as a beacon for innovators, artists, builders, and entrepreneurs — creating opportunities that lift all families and neighborhoods.”
Lee’s storied Bay Area political career took an uncertain turn after Lee ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for the U.S. Senate, finishing fourth in the March primary against fellow Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, who won in the November election.
Lee, 78, is running in an April 15 special election to fill the remainder of former Mayor Sheng Thao’s term, which ends in January 2027. Thao, a progressive politician elected in 2022, was recalled in November amid voter frustration with rampant crime, homelessness and a perception that the government had lost control of city streets. Alameda County Dist. Atty. Pamela Price, a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform, was also recalled in November.
“[Lee] is perfect for right now. She has the progressive bonafides, but she is also willing to make compromises and she is pragmatic,” said Keally McBride, a University of San Francisco politics professor and an Oakland resident. “That is what Oakland is desperately needing right now.”
Lee’s dominant name recognition and her long tenure representing the East Bay complicates the campaign for a list of local leaders who have already announced plans to run. Several candidates have indicated they would drop out if Lee joined the race.
“In terms of gaining respect and gaining alliances across the city, it would be hard to get a candidate better than her,” McBride said. “No one is going to be able to compete against her.”
Nonetheless, Loren Taylor, a former Oakland City Council member considered a top contender for the post, said he is preparing to file candidate paperwork next week. Taylor, an engineer who represented East Oakland for four years on the council, narrowly lost to Thao in the 2022 mayoral race after garnering the most first-place votes in the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to select multiple candidates by order of preference.
“I am a kid from this town and have benefited so much from what Oakland could offer. I see the amazing potential of our beautiful, incredible city. But we’re not realizing it,” he said this week.
Taylor, 47, is more than 30 years Lee’s junior. He said he respects Lee’s service in Congress, but that Oakland needs a mayor with a “fresh-perspective approach to leadership and government.”
“One that is informed by working on the ground, in community and within City Hall,” Taylor said, “as opposed to someone who has been focused on Washington, D.C., Republican, Democrat politics at the national level.”
“This is a different position, one that she hasn’t had. Executive administration is much different from legislating,” he said.
Lee’s announcement generated excitement among several local community groups whose members have been lobbying her to jump in the race. They are hopeful that Lee, known in Washington for her anti-war positions and as a champion of civil rights, can usher in an era of stability in a city contending with several crises, including a gnawing budget deficit and spiking crime rates.
A coalition of local business, labor and education organizations implored Lee to run in a December letter calling for a new leader “who can restore integrity to the office of the mayor, unite us in a time of division, and help us address critical issues around the budget, public safety, housing, and inequity in our town.”
Born in El Paso, Texas, Lee eventually moved to the Bay Area and attended Mills College in Oakland as a single mom. She obtained her master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley in 1975, and founded an organization that offered mental health services to East Bay residents.
She served as chief of staff to the late congressman and former Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and won his congressional seat after he retired in 1998. Lee also served in the state Legislature in the 1990s.
Even with her broad level of community support, Lee would inherit as mayor a list of weighty problems in Oakland that could test her legislative credentials.
Violent and property crimes have soared in Oakland, with homicides jumping to more than 100 deaths a year for multiple years during the pandemic. The City Council in December approved a series of cuts to services in efforts to close a $130-million budget deficit. The number of homeless people in Oakland increased by 9% between 2022 and 2024.
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed a large contingent of California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland to mitigate the crime surge, with a focus on curtailing brazen retail and vehicle thefts. The operation has resulted in nearly 1,200 arrests, the recovery of more than 2,200 stolen cars and the seizure of 124 illegal guns as of November, according to the CHP.
“The crime issue needs to be brought under control,” McBride said, adding that the business community is reeling from retail thefts that have become routine. “People are afraid to invest in the city, and that makes the budget deficit worse.”
The mounting emergencies had many wondering whether Lee would want the mayor’s job, a post that will inevitably require tough decisions that could compromise her status as a progressive icon.
“She doesn’t need the job for her legacy,” said Ludovic Blain, a Berkeley resident and chief executive of the California Donor Table, a statewide network of donors who fund progressive candidates. “She’d be doing it to be of service, and to help and to lead.”
During an interview with KQED Tuesday, Lee reflected on her time in Congress and said she had spent weeks deliberating the difficult decision.
“If I make a decision to run,” she said, “it’s going to be because I want to do it and I think I can help make life better for everyone.”
