Barbara Lee

Candidate for Mayor, Oakland · Mayor, City of Oakland

Barbara Lee spent more than 25 years representing the East Bay in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she chaired the Congressional Black Caucus and co-chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Before Congress, she served in the California State Assembly and State Senate, and earlier was chief of staff to Congressman Ron Dellums. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Mills College and an M.A. in social work from UC Berkeley, having raised two sons as a single mother while earning both degrees. Lee was elected Mayor of Oakland in an April 2025 special election, becoming the first Black woman to hold the office.

Lee's campaign cites the establishment of an Office of Homelessness Solutions with a five-year goal to cut unsheltered homelessness in half, including 1,600 affordable units under construction (800 for formerly unhoused residents). She points to a "Keep the Town Clean" initiative that mobilized more than 10,000 volunteers and removed over 6,600 tons of debris, and to homicides at a 58-year low with violent crime down 22%. She has also established a Charter Reform Working Group that gathered input from more than 1,150 residents, reduced permit-processing times for zoning clearances and ADUs, and implemented protections against federal immigration enforcement operations within city boundaries.

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