Oakland Mayoral Special Election Candidate List Set

The candidate list for the 2025 Oakland Mayoral special election was finalized this week with 15 candidates in total, including former Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former City Councilman Loren Taylor, currently set for an April special election.

Following the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in November, Mayoral candidates for the April special election trickled in. Taylor, who lost to Thao in 2022, was one of the first to declare following Thao’s recall, and was an early leader in terms of support thanks to carryover from the 2022 election. Other early candidates included economist Mindy Pechenuk, lobbyist Isaac Kos-Read, and fellow 2022 candidate Derrick Soo.

While the list only comprised of a handful of names going into 2025, the race received a boost in media attention when Lee declared on January 13th that she was running. Lee, who came in a disappointing 4th place in the U.S. Senate primary in March 2024 and recently just left her Congressional seat, became the new favorite in the race overnight. As the Congresswoman for Oakland for decades, Lee already has a huge base of support in Oakland as well as a staff already there to help build up a campaign.

Throughout last week, many potential candidates declined to run because of Lee entering the race, including Councilwoman Carroll Fife. Others, like interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins and former NFL star and Governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast co-host Marshawn Lynch, also wound up not filing. However, close to a dozen other candidates did wind up putting their names in by the January 17th filing due day. Amongst the most notable names were controversial Olympic skier Elizabeth Swaney, former Chief of Staff to then-Mayor Thao Renia Webb, and former member of the Oakland Library Advisory Commission and 2022 Mayoral election candidate Tyron Jordan.

After several days of checking paperwork, election officials have kept all the submitted candidates. However, the list could be smaller by the time ballots are printed, as some dropouts of the race are expected. Several current candidates have said that they might drop out thanks to Lee entering the race. Nonetheless, as of Wednesday, the 15 are currently listed as candidates for Mayor.

15 candidates for Mayor in Oakland

Pollsters told the Globe Wednesday that the race is currently Lee’s to lose, with early indications showing a relatively easy path to victory for Lee. As the special election on April 15th is to have ranked choice voting, Lee is expected to be the number one candidate for many voters.

“Everyone in Oakland is familiar with Lee,” Alameda County pollster Nathan Martin told the Globe Wednesday. “She’s running at age 78, so age might be a factor to some. Also, she is very much to the left, so conservative and moderate voters are going to have a problem voting for her. But beyond that, Lee has the support of the majority of voters. She was their Congresswoman for 27 years, so she has that base. And finally, she doesn’t want to end her political career on a huge loss, with Mayor of Oakland being her lead-out position in all likelihood.

“Beyond Lee, the next best shot is Taylor. He lost a very close race to Thao in 2022, and has still not gotten over that. He’s also popular in the city thanks to his time as a City Councilman. If there is anyone who could beat Lee, it’s him.

“Hot topics in the next three months we are going to be seeing in ads, in speeches and at debates are going to be public safety, Oakland’s economic decline, funding the police and other departments, Oakland’s budget crisis, homelessness, drugs, and Lee’s age. And out of all those, the biggest will be public safety. Crime seems to be everywhere and people are afraid to go to many parts of the city. Candidates will need to convince voters that they can do all they can before the next Mayoral election in November 2026. That’s a little more than a year and a half to make an impact.

“These debates, if nothing else, will be interesting.”