Oakland – The former member of the City Council, Loren Taylor Tok, is a very thin advantage in the first results in the Oakland Special Mayor elections on Tuesday against former Democratic Representative Barbara Lee in a race caused by a series of scandals recently that culminated in the withdrawal of the mayor of the city in November.
The race to lead the city of northern California remained too close to call Tuesday night. But Taylor’s great early performance is the last turn of the plot in a race that many expected Lee, a progressive icon that spent almost 30 years representing East Bay in Congress, to easily win after declaring his candidacy in January.
Oakland, a city of 436,000 people with approximately 250,000 registered voters, uses elections of classified choice, allowing voters to select multiple candidates by order of preference. It could happen several days before they have final results and declared a winner, but Taylor’s followers were already Celebrating the first results at a campaign party in the center of Oakland.
At the end of Taylor’s street, with the night still very young, hundreds of Lee followers remained optimistic while danced in a live band in Cereony, a music place in the center. The green and golden balloons, the official colors of Oakland, decorated the room, while the boxes of people formed a long line to obtain a plate of food from the soul.
Lee, with a dark green suit with a golden shirt, also made a resistant duration in a speech at the party, where he spent more time thanking the campaign supporters than talking about results.
“We all know that this will be a long week,” he said. “But we are doing very well.”
The special election was caused by the expulsion of Mayor Sheng Thao, whom the voters Retired from the office in November Amid deep frustrations with crime, the lack of housing and the general sense that Oakland was in crisis.
Thao, a progressive chosen in 2022, was strongly criticized for not more aggressive addressing the so -called robberies and carbades or dismantling the extensive tent cities. She also faced accusations of tearing the city’s finances, contributing to a Severe budget deficit This fiscal year that almost certainly requires broad cuts in government departments.
The efforts to remember Thao of the position were already underway when, in June, the FBI agents raided their home as part of an investigation into an alleged scheme of expanding corruption that involves Thao’s boyfriend and a father-son team recycles the ISYST company. That probe energized the withdrawal, which was easily approved with more than 60% of the votes. Thao, her boyfriend Andre Jones and Andy and David Duong de California waste solutions They were accused of Federal bribery charges In January. The four defendants declared themselves innocent.
The expulsion of Thao, together with the concerns about the crime and the financial crisis of the city, fed a deep reveo of voters about the perceived incompetence by government leaders, said Dan Lindheim, a former administrator of the city of Oakland of Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey Golde Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s Goldey’s.
“There was a perception that things were out of control, along with this financial crisis,” said Lindheim, who supported Lee.
The election created an unexpected professional opportunity for Lee, who left Washington in January after Lose your offer for the Senate In last year’s elementary school, Democratic representative Adam Schiff, who won the seat in November. With Oakland in the sudden need for a new mayor, a wide coalition of business groups, labor organizations and elected leaders dedicated the past autumn by calling Lee, 78, who is executed in the special elections and save his city of collapse.
Since he announced his campaign in January, Lee has been executed in a message of unity as a veteran politician with decades of experience in all interest groups. She has promoted the hundreds of millions of dollars that she has brought home to the duration of East Bay her time in Congress, where she legalized war policies and promoted legislation that went to racism, sexism, supply and work. These values express their roots as an activist of the black panther and its educational training in Mills College and UC Berkeley.
She promised in the campaign to “improve life for all” in Oakland, while promising to fight crime and encourage 5,400 homeless people estimated in Oakland in shelters and homes. He has pledged to hire more police, stop government spending and increase transparency in decisions taken in the City Council.
Taylor and Lee were only two candidates in a field full of 10 people, he thought a person left the race in February to campaign for Lee. But the race was largely seen as a competition between Lee and Taylor and their competitive visions for Oakland.
Taylor Escoction went out at Lee’s advantage in the last week an aggressive campaign strategy that was largely based on converting his strength against her.
He has described or described his hometown as “broken” and in desperate need for an executive director with experience in the land in the City Council that could make difficult decisions without fear of disappointing political supporters of pulmonary time. And at 47, Taylor appealed to voters disappointed by career politicians who were looking for someone younger to direct their city in a new direction.
“People want statements and ideological positions of their representatives in the national government,” said Keaty McBride, resident of Oakland and a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. “But when it comes to the local government, they just want things to work.”
Taylor received a financial impulse for Technological and Business Leaders Who channeled tens of thousands or dollars to choose it through independent expenses committees that support their candidacy.
Taylor represented parts of East Oakland for four years in the City Council before Losing Thao little In the Mayor elections of 2022. In that race, Taylor Hero the protagonist For several days before a wave or mail tickets boost the vote in favor of Thao.
