Former Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) announced Wednesday that she is running to be the next mayor of Oakland this year.
Lee said in a video posted on her X account that she wants to bring the city together to face its challenges, pointing to homelessness, crime, policing and the cost of living. Her announcement did not come as a surprise after she previously said she was considering a run and would make a decision this month.
“They’ve said we are a city divided, but let’s show them we are one Oakland. That’s in our DNA,” Lee said.
Lee will be competing in a nonpartisan special election in April to serve the remainder of the term of former Mayor Sheng Thao (D), who was ousted from her position in a recall vote in November. Thao’s defeat came after several controversies surrounded her, including rising crime, poor relations with the police union and a missed deadline for a grant that would have given the city millions of dollars to address retail theft.
She also faced a personal controversy in the aftermath of an FBI raid of her home in June. The agency hasn’t accused her of wrongdoing nor said why they conducted the search, and Thao has denied any wrongdoing as well.