Former longtime Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee surged into the lead in the race to become Oakland’s next mayor, according to vote results released Friday evening.
The latest tally showed Lee moving ahead of her primary challenger in the race, former City Councilmember Loren Taylor, with 53% of the vote compared to Taylor’s 47%. Her lead was commanding enough that the San Francisco Chronicle called the race, declaring Lee “has been elected Oakland’s next mayor.”
Oakland, a city of 436,000 people, uses ranked-choice elections, which allows voters to select multiple candidates by order of preference. The method complicates the vote count, and it could be weeks before Alameda County election officials announce a final tally for this week’s special election…