2 weeks Ago By Tim Fang
Former Oakland city councilmember Loren Taylor has a slim lead over former Rep. Barbara Lee following Tuesday's special election for the city's mayor. But with ballots remaining uncounted and with ranked-choice voting being used, a winner has not been declared as of Wednesday.
According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, Taylor has 23,229 votes (51.17%), while Lee has 24,347 votes (48.83%) following the ninth round of ranked-choice calculations.
Turnout in the race so far was at 19.55%, a number that will change once outstanding mail ballots are tallied.Taylor and Lee were widely considered the frontrunners in the race, which featured a crowded field of 10 candidates.
The race was triggered after voters recalled Sheng Thao from the mayor's office last year.Former Rep. Barbara Lee and former Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor, the two frontrunners in the April 15, 2025 special election for Oakland Mayor.
CBS At an event Tuesday night, Taylor said he felt good about his chances, but he also said the results may not be known for days or even longer."We don't want to assume where things are going because we know there are still a lot of ballots out there," Taylor told CBS News Bay Area. "But at the same time, it's encouraging that this many votes coming out, we've got the lead that we have, right? By a lot of folks' consideration this is about half or maybe more of what we expect in terms of returns.
"Taylor had narrowly lost to Thao in the 2022 mayoral election.Meanwhile Lee also voiced confidence, but also stressed patience to her supporters."It's still early, and so I'm optimistic that as the votes come in, we'll win.
But we have to really be patient," Lee said. "We have to be optimistic that people heard our message and people would vote for us."Lee had stepped down from her congressional seat in January, after representing her East Bay district on Capitol Hill since 1998.
Last year, Lee was among several candidates seeking to succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, but had lost in the primary.The race is being decided with ranked-choice voting, which has been used in Oakland since 2010.
Ranked-choice allows people to vote for their favorite but then list other candidates in order of preference. After the first count, if neither of the two leading candidates get more than 50% of the votes, they get to collect the "ranked" votes cast for them, in order, until one achieves more than half the votes and wins. The registrar said the next update on the race would take place on Friday.
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