The special election for Oakland mayor saw a dramatic swing on Friday, as new results released by Alameda County election officials propelled former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee into the lead over former Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor.
Lee has captured 53% of the vote, compared to 47% for Taylor. The totals include voters who picked Lee or Taylor as an alternate preference on their ranked choice ballot. Taylor held a narrow advantage after the initial results were released Tuesday.
With only a minimal number of absentee ballots left to count and certify, Lee’s path to victory is all but assured.
“This evening’s results are encouraging,” Lee said in a statement. “We are exceeding expected turnout for this special election, because the people of Oakland care deeply about our future. This is democracy at work, and I look forward to further election updates.”
The results come as a cruel twist of fate for Taylor, who in 2022 narrowly lost the mayoral race to Sheng Thao — by about 700 votes — after taking an initial lead in the first round of vote counts.
Thao was subsequently ousted in a recall in November, prompting Tuesday’s special election to complete her four-year term.
As of Friday, the register had tallied nearly 95,000 ballots, representing about 38% of the electorate. The election also included a City Council race and a ballot measure.
Any ballot postmarked by Tuesday and received by the registrar’s office before April 22 can still be counted. Election officials will also spend the next few weeks confirming the eligibility of voters who registered on Election Day, and others whose ballot signature did not match their registration.
Under the city’s ranked choice system, voters were allowed to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. Candidates with the fewest votes were eliminated in an instant runoff. Votes are redistributed over multiple rounds until one candidate reaches a conclusive majority.
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