Auckland – On the latest Saturday in March, hundreds filled the Great Lakes Theatre in Oakland, hosting typical parties in honor of longtime Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee.
Laureate Ella Gordon, a young poet of Auckland, recites a powerful poem about the magic of living in various East Bay cities, and the performance of Destiny Muhammad, the harp dancer with a harp hat, while the young dancer of the Queen of Africa dance company excited for the town with a soul, soul-rich, soul-rich prairie energy.
Lee, 78, left Washington, D.C. in January Lost her bid for the Senate Last year, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff won the seat in November. The loss seems to be the conclusion she has been in Congress for nearly three decades, and her anti-war stance and support for civil rights have made her a hometown hero in Auckland.
However, the March 8 event was not the retirement party, but Lee’s next business: the main fundraising campaign for mayor of Auckland.
A turning point in fate may eventually reignite Lee’s political career, and Oakland finds himself in need of a new CEO Recall Mayor Sheng Thao. The expeller highlights residents’ frustration with bold street crime, tent cities, and generally believes that there is no solution for the 2022 election of Progressives Thao.
Further clouding her exit: federal officials announced in January Bribery chargesrunning the company with her boyfriend and a father-son team, which provides recycling services in Auckland, alleges corruption plans involving cash payments and campaign support in exchange for city contracts. None of the four defendants pleaded not guilty.
During the pandemic decade, Oakland has become a popular alternative to San Francisco, with young downtown, more affordable housing and high-energy nightlife. But the city has been working hard to recover from the closure of the common era. The surge in real estate crime and “smash” looting has driven some high-profile businesses to leave towns. Between 2022 and 2024, the number of people living on the streets, vehicles or abandoned buildings increased by 10%. In 2023, the homicide More than 100 For the fourth consecutive year.
So it was a relief for her army of fanatical devotees when Lee announced in early January that she would run for mayor in the special election on April 15.
“I’m ready to fight for Auckland at any time,” Lee said in announcing his bid.
Her campaign has received a wide coalition of elected officials, business groups, trade unions and faith leaders who are temporarily suitable women and have the beliefs and experiences needed to unify residents.
“We need her. She doesn’t need us,” interim mayor Kevin Jenkins told the crowd at the March event.
“I’m ready to fight for Oakland,” U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee said when she announced she was running for mayor.
(Loren Elliott / Times)
Lee’s entry into the race helped sparse the field of candidates considering running. Many people expect Lee to have an easy road to victory. Why block her way?
But the punching with that mentality is Loren Taylor, a moderate Democrat who represented part of East Oakland for four years on City Council Barely lose to Shu In the 2022 mayoral election. Although a total of nine candidates are still in the game, only Taylor is Lee’s strong challenger.
Taylor is a 47-year-old business management consultant with a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. His focus on public safety and bringing good governance back to Oakland has attracted a wide range of support, including the business community and tech entrepreneurs.
“We have a lot to fix and need to fix it right away,” Taylor said in a recent debate.
Their candidates offer voters a provocative choice: Should the Aucklander choose an experienced civil servant who has delivered to the region for decades in the national capital? Or a clumsy politician, who was 31 years old as a junior, was immersed in local issues and knew the inner workings of the Town Hall?
Emphasizing their differences is the slogan everyone chooses: Lee promotes himself as someone who “can unify” Auckland. Taylor said his purpose was to “repair” something broken.
When Lee announced his candidacy, Taylor thought he had two options.
“First of all, listen to the people who are trying to convince him to stand down, basically waiting for my turn to let her slide into this seat,” Taylor said in an interview in February.
The second is to surrender the opponent and stay in the game. “Well, if she goes in, it’s going to be tough.” “And if she comes in, is that really the best in Oakland?”
Both Taylor and Lee vowed to make combat crime a priority and helped some 5,400 homeless people in Oakland find shelter and housing. They have promised to control government spending in the face of budget deficits. They have touted policies to increase transparency to rebuild public trust.
But Taylor believes there are differences that can separate the two. First, they come from different generations. Although both are Democrats, Taylor describes himself as a more modest and not shy enforcement stance, saying the city needs to hire more than 100 police officers.
He often says Lee is a great member of Congress, but one of the 435 members of the House. By contrast, he said he knew the busyness and wear of serving as a local official. His goal is Lee’s refusal to publicly say whether she plans to run for reelection in 2026.
“I think the question to ask is, well, do we want a 78-year-old professional politician who doesn’t show a history of making tough and tough decisions?” he said. “Or do we want a 47-year-old Politburo outsider to work on the ground, within the town hall, among multiple stakeholder groups, to demonstrate the ability to solve these difficult problems and to be committed to here for only 20 months or more?”
Lee told The Times this month that her decision to run for reelection will depend on voters and whether they think she is doing well. Taylor’s criticism has angered her supporters, who say he doesn’t respect one of Oakland’s heroes.
“For real reasons, our congresswoman was attacked while doing the sacrifice,” City Councilman Carroll Fife said at a March event. “This is Barbara Lee. Respect some respect on her name.”
“I’ve seen what she does very few things that politicians can do,” Democrat Rep. Latefah Simon, who was elected as Lee’s former seat in November, added in a recent phone interview in Washington. “Barbara can answer the phone and call everyone.”
Simon noted that Lee brought hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from Washington, and her willingness to work on the aisles with Republicans and bring labor and business together for negotiations. She advocates policies targeting racism, gender discrimination, poverty, and labor exploitation, which values stem from her experience as a Black Panther activist and her education and training at Mills College and UC Berkeley.
“Oakland is in a state of crisis,” Simon said. “It’s not a job opportunity. You need people with local, state, regional, national and international relations with other legislators, public and private sectors to make things healthy.”
Angry Lee’s supporters – who crossed the influence group – worrying about Taylor?
“I didn’t take the role of this public service to play safely and make half a commitment to my city,” he said. “I think this is one of the problems we have, and that too many people are thinking about their political careers, not the most favorable thing for the constituents they serve.”
Taylor’s boldness earned him the respect of Oaklanders who wanted to see more aggressive ways toward urban issues.
“He is pragmatically delivering results, not just ‘wait and so on’,” said former city council member Patricia Kernighan. “He has become addicted to these issues and he knows what the facts are. He knows all the players. It’s time to crunch.”
“It’s a very free city, it’s a good city, but sometimes it causes people to lose common sense,” Bob Cross said, who recently spent the most recent Sunday knock on the door for Taylor. “Barbara Lee did a great job in Washington. But she never joined the city.”
Taylor surprised his skeptics after gaining momentum in recent weeks. In early March, he reported a fundraising lead over Lee. In the middle of each month, his campaign released a poll showing that he was in the first place vote of Garner 41%, while Lee’s 45%. (Oakland uses a ranking selection voting system that allows voters to select multiple candidates by prioritization.)
Still, competing with a woman who has won over a dozen matches is not an easy task, most of whom won the match. Lee won with more than 90% of the vote in the last Congressional movement in 2022.
On a Sunday in mid-March, Taylor worked on a door-knock mission to stir up the votes along a row of cozy houses in East Oakland. He pauses to introduce an older man walking dog.
The man listened before telling Taylor politely that he was going to vote for Lee.
He said, “I have been voting for her for years.” Taylor nodded and smiled patiently. “I also vote for Barbara Lee,” he replied, explaining, but what Oakland needs is people with track record on local issues.
“You’re on my list. You’re in the top two.” “Obviously, you won’t be a bad choice.”
“I didn’t hold this public service position to play its safety safely and make half a commitment to my city,” Loren Taylor said of his decision to run for mayor of Auckland.
(Yalonda M. James / San Francisco Chronicle)
In a house on the street, there is a “Barbara Lee” sign in the yard. Taylor thinks it’s still worth a visit.
The woman who opened the door seemed really excited to see Taylor: “Loren, oh my god!” she said. Before Taylor initiated his verdict, she also listened to her verdict: “Barbara is my girl…I cherish her.”
She added: “You know, I admire you too, Loren.” He thanked her and then turned down the driveway.
“That’s the default of nature. That’s the headwind we face,” Taylor said.
But this is not all rejection. A woman roared across the street in Taylor, running from the driveway to talk to him, sharing her and her husband, a firefighter, plans to vote for him. In another house, one said Taylor could count on his vote.
In many ways, Lee’s March 8 campaign is a tribute to Taylor’s unexpected strength. Included in the speech praising Lee’s achievements, more than one supporter called Taylor to hunt Taylor.
“We need to oppose the attack on her,” interim mayor Jenkins said.
Lee held onto her message of unity during the boarding ceremony: “I want us to move forward. I want us to move forward with a lot of love and commitment to the city,” she said. “We have our differences. We have a reason together, and it’s to make everyone’s life better, and I mean everyone.”
For those who criticized her background, her time in Washington, and even her age, she did not bother.
“The criticism on the campaign was good,” she told the Times. “But trust me, I know the city very well. I am a resident here. I live here and have delivered goods to the city.”
