Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee holds a press conference in Oakland on April 21, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Former East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee, who Oakland voters chose as the city’s next mayor, promised to continue to represent “all of Oakland” on Monday in her first press conference since winning the election.
“I will govern with the same leadership I’ve engaged in my entire career: with transparency, integrity and accountability; with unwavering focus on the results you expect and deserve; with an ability to bring together people who do not always agree but believe in a better Oakland,” Lee said.
Lee, whose term is set to begin in mid-May, will be Oakland’s first Black woman mayor. She inherits a city in financial and political turmoil, and marked by sharp economic and geographic divides.
“I saw an opportunity to unite our community,” Lee told the crowd.
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According to Lee’s website, her plan for her first 100 days in office includes gathering the CEOs of the 10 largest Oakland employers to develop public-private initiatives to encourage economic growth, prosecuting illegal dumping — an issue that has confounded politicians and roiled residents for years — as well as auditing city contracts and addressing the city’s homelessness crisis.
Lee spoke at the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, which represents the city’s businesses and endorsed her in the race.
Oakland Mayor-Elect Barbara Lee arrives at a press conference on April 21, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Kevin Jenkins, Oakland’s interim mayor, said Lee was aggressive about taking action on the 10-point plan. Jenkins called illegal dumping and the high number of unsheltered residents “a moral crisis” facing the city.
Lee convened a transition team co-chaired by Oakland residents, including Alameda County labor leader Keith Brown and Barbara Leslie, president and CEO of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, who stood beside her at the conference.
“Voters of Oakland, regardless of who they voted for, have spoken loudly and they want our government to work better,” Leslie said. “Oaklanders have chosen Congresswoman Lee, Mayor-elect Lee, as a leader who can steady our city, one who can collaborate with business and labor and community on behalf of all of Oakland.”
Brown emphasized Lee’s commitment to workers and acknowledged widespread public dissatisfaction with the city’s status quo.
“The people of Oakland have placed their trust in Mayor-elect Lee to stabilize the city,” Brown said. “This is a new beginning — let’s get to work.”
Without using names, Lee thanked the other candidates in the race, including her main contender, former Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor. Despite Lee’s strong name recognition, Taylor’s campaign gained steady momentum, driven in part by voter frustration over public safety in the historically progressive city and financial backing from outside groups that favored his more moderate approach.
Taylor and Lee topped the field of 10 candidates running to complete the term of former Mayor Sheng Thao, who was recalled in November. In 2022, Taylor led the race for mayor for more than a week after Election Day before Thao emerged as the winner.
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. Against Lee, however, Taylor struggled to gain traction in neighborhoods below Interstate 580.
Alameda County’s Registrar of Voters has until May 15 to certify the results.
For Lee, 78, becoming mayor is the latest chapter in a decades-long political career, including roles as a legislator in California and a member of Congress. In 2001, Lee made national headlines as the lone vote against a Congressional bill authorizing the Iraq War.
The city faces a looming $129 million budget shortfall, and by June 30 must eliminate an additional $280 million deficit projected over the next two years. The long-awaited Oakland Coliseum sale, announced as a budget remedy by Thao, has been delayed until 2026, leaving questions about local leaders’ commitments to East Oakland.
Oakland Mayor-Elect Barbara Lee greets supporters following a press conference in Oakland on April 21, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
And the city is still reeling from a political scandal that ensnared Thao and others, and a crisis of confidence over public safety, which led to the recalls of Thao and former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price last year.
In her speech, Lee also positioned the city as a liberal bastion against policies by President Donald Trump that threaten immigrants and the city’s LGBT+ community, while noting she would work with the administration when necessary.
“I hope that we stay unified in pushing back and resisting what’s going to be devastating for Oakland,” Lee said. “That’s going to be up to us.”
