Barbara Lee wins Oakland mayoral race

Former Mayor Thao was ousted from her post after a recall election on Nov. 5 that coincided with the recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. In January, Thao was indicted for bribery by federal authorities alongside her boyfriend, Andre Jones.

Taylor had lost the election to Thao in 2022 by less than 700 votes. While he had hoped for an opportunity to serve as the city’s mayor through January 2027, that role now belongs to Lee, who has a storied history in California politics as a congresswoman representing the East Bay cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda for over two decades.

Since Thao left office, Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Councilmember Kevin Jenkins have both briefly served as interim mayor.

Tuesday’s special election saw a 37.84% turnout among Oakland’s 250,800 registered voters, with an overwhelming majority of those ballots — 90,351 of them — cast by mail, according to Alameda County.