SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland, California, voters who recalled their mayor in November over crime, homelessness and allegations of corruption are weighing whether to give the job to former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a progressive icon and Black female trailblazer who represented the city in Congress for over two decades.
The 78-year-old Lee is widely considered the front-runner in the April 15 election. This is despite her politics in a state where progressives have not fared well lately, partly over perceptions they are too soft on crime.
Former Mayor Sheng Thao was ousted barely two years into her term. Voters in November also recalled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, whose territory included Oakland, and Los Angeles County voters denied progressive DA George Gascón a second term in office.
Ballots for the Oakland race have been mailed and voting is underway.
Lee is walking a careful line in how she addresses public safety in an Oakland that has become less permissive and more strident about punishing wrongdoers, like many other Democratic cities in California where voters are exasperated over grimy street conditions and empty storefronts.
Her leading opponent is Loren Taylor, 47, a former Oakland City Council member who supports using drones and surveillance cameras to fight crime.
“She can’t govern on the public safety front as a progressive or liberal. That has been repudiated throughout the state of California and almost nationally,” said James Taylor, a political science professor at the University of San Francisco.
“So she’s going to have to find a good team of people around her who will help administer the balance between community and neighborhood and individual rights and overall public safety,” he said. “But Oaklanders want the streets to be safe.”
Oakland has long been the cheaper, funkier alternative to San Francisco across the Bay. The city of 400,000 is deeply liberal and multicultural, the birthplace of the Black Panther Party and claimed by former Vice President Kamala Harris as her hometown.
But the city also is reeling from tent encampments, public drug use, illegal sideshows, gun violence and brazen robberies that prompted In-N-Out Burger to close its first location ever last year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent California Highway Patrol officers to help combat what he called an alarming and unacceptable rise in crime. Oakland also doesn’t have enough money to pay for public services.
On the campaign trail, Lee emphasizes the need for more community services as well as more police. She wants guns off the streets and more money for crime prevention. Economic development, job creation and ensuring core city services like fire hydrants work properly are among her priorities.
Lee rejects the idea that her progressive politics are at odds with the city.
“I believe that my values are Oakland values,” Lee said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Lee was first elected to the U.S. House in 1998 and became best known nationally as the only lawmaker to vote against the 2001 authorization for the use of military force in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. She ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate last year.
Her chief opponent, Taylor, who also is Black, says Oakland needs a pragmatic mayor who knows city government.
“The problems we’re facing, the things that need to be fixed in Oakland, she’s not the right fit,” he said of Lee. Consensus-building skills honed in Congress don’t always serve the needs of an executive in City Hall. For example, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, also a former member of Congress, is taking heat over January’s deadly wildfires, with some calling for a more take-charge mayor.
In Oakland, Lee and Taylor agree the Oakland Police Department needs 800 officers, up from the under 700 it has now. Taylor says he has a plan to get to 800 in three years, while Lee says it will be difficult.
Lee wants to test a guaranteed basic income program for homeless people and called the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling making it easier for cities to clear encampments “cruel.” Taylor voted against defunding police in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in 2020. He wants to clear homeless encampments and supports the use of drones, license plate readers and cameras to nab perpetrators.
Taylor, an engineer, served on the Oakland City Council from 2019 to 2023 and narrowly lost a bid for mayor in 2022 to Sheng Thao. He supported the recall while Lee opposed it.
Brenda Harbin-Forte, a retired judge who helped lead the recall, said she hopes voters will see beyond Lee’s star power.
“I did not recall Sheng Thao to have Sheng Thao 2.0 in office,” she said.
But Carl Chan, a Chinatown community leader and recall leader, said he believes either Taylor or Lee will focus on the budget, public safety and economic revitalization. He hopes they will work together no matter who wins.
“No one can fix our problems immediately,” he said. “We’ll be very happy if we can stop the bleeding.”