Opposition Grows Against Barbara Lee In Oakland Mayoral Race

Former Congresswoman and current Oakland Mayoral candidate Barbara continued to see growing opposition movement against her campaign this week, with recall supporters of former Mayor Sheng Thao now joining the movement against her.

Last year, the Sheng Thao recall movement, led by former Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte, successfully recalled Thao, with the final tally showing that well over 60% of voters were against her. During the election, Lee vehemently opposed Thao being recalled. Despite this, Lee joined the special election race to replace Thao in January, fresh off of leaving Congress and placing a distant fourth in the U.S. Senate primary in 2024.

Lee was instantly the favorite candidate once in, displacing former City Councilman and 2022 mayoral candidate Loren Taylor as the top candidate, and pulling ahead of other candidates including economist Mindy Pechenuk, lobbyist Isaac Kos-Read, 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. Of these, only Lee, Taylor and Webb scored any significant traction, as shown by a February candidate forum only including the three candidates, and last weeks’ first and only Mayoral debate having just Lee and Taylor face off.

However, Barbara Lee, brings along significant baggage, scandals, and a growing movement against her. While some of her unpopular past actions, like her time with the Black Panthers and being the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing force following the September 11th attacks, have always loomed, the 2025 special election brought out some surprises. Most notably, it was found last month that she received political donations from Andy and David Duong, the recycling business owners who were recently indicted in the same scandal involving former Mayor Sheng Thao. Lee did give back the donated funds, but the fact she received so much from them for campaigns over the years shook many in Oakland.

Comparisons of Lee to former Mayor Ron Dellums haven’t helped matters in recent weeks, and neither have ads portraying her as a local Washington insider more than an Oakland local, with the city severely declining while she was Oakland’s Congresswoman.

Last week, those behind the recall of Thao began campaigning heavily against Lee, bringing out ads portraying Lee as being just like Thao with the same policies that have hurt Oakland.

“Oakland is in a fight for its life,” explained Harbin-Forte. “87,000 of us who recalled Sheng Thao don’t need Barbara Lee coming in with the same failed policies. Barbara Lee does not speak for me. We’re going to be in the same condition that we would’ve been in had we not recalled Sheng Thao. And I did not recall Sheng Thao to have Sheng Thao 2.0.”

Opposition against, support for Lee

Lee’s supporters have shot back, saying that her experience would help unify the city.

“The town is hurting, not just in terms of our finances, but how we see ourselves and how we come together. We’ve come through two very divisive election cycles, and I believe that she’s a unifying candidate who can bring solutions to the table,” said former Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney. “Oakland is a leader in this region and we need someone who can sit at the table on transportation, climate change, and certainly join the legion of strong leaders across the state to push back against the federal dissolutions that we see.”

Nonetheless, signs of a growing movement against the heavy favorite Lee have continued on into this week.

“I wouldn’t say that everyone has been dropping Lee as their choice here,” noted Tonya Williams, a neighborhood event organizer in Oakland, to the Globe on Monday. “There are still so many who are backing her no matter what. But there have definitely been many who were sort of siding with her now saying that they would rather have Taylor or someone else.

“It’s been because of a mix of everything. Some don’t think she should run for Mayor at her age. Some think she sort of abandoned Oakland for a while. And some see Lee running for Mayor as a sort of secondary option after losing the Senate. Like she didn’t want this but went for it since she was out of Congress. That’s been the big one. That and Lee not doing anything in Washington to stop Oakland’s decline. You know, why didn’t she push for more funds or more federal offices or something in Oakland.

“I mainly work with family age people. It’s the older crowd you have to worry about here. Everyone above a certain age is for Lee and cannot be swayed otherwise. She’s built up decades worth of support and you can see it pay off here now. So yeah, some voters are voting for someone else, but you would be surprised at just how many are stubbornly for Lee here still.”