Democrat who once called for $50 minimum wage is elected Oakland mayor (2025)

A former Democratic congressman who once called for a $50 minimum wage has been elected Oakland mayor after the last one was recalled.

Barbara Lee, 78, pulled out a narrow win against Loren Taylor on Friday, garnering 52 percent of the nine-round ranked-choice vote, according to The San Francisco Standard.

It's Taylor's second time losing the mayoral race after he lost to ousted former Mayor Sheng Thao in 2022.

Lee's win comes after Thao, now indicted on bribery charges, was recalled from her position in November after 65 percent of voters wished to oust the politician after her home was raided by the FBI.

Lee will serve as Oakland mayor until the next election in 2026 and will assume office immediately.

The former congressional representative announced her campaign in January to the immediate backing from several community leaders, according to SFGate.

She has represented the Bay Area for nearly 30 years as a state legislator and later congresswoman.

Lee ran on a platform of fixing the crime and homelessness problems in the California city and increasing the police force, according to SFGate.

Last year, while still in Congress, Lee called for the Golden State to raise its minimum wage to $50 an hour, saying residents couldn't get by on $104,000 a year.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour; the California minimum wage is $16 at the time. The state wage has now gone up to $16.50.

Sheargued employees need to be taken care of and have a 'living wage.'

'Just do the math, just do the math,' Lee said during a debate ahead of the election forlate Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein's seat.

'In the Bay Area, I believe it was the United Way came out with a report that very recently $127,000 for a family of four is just barely enough to get by,' Lee said at the time. 'Another survey very recently $104,000 for a family of one, barely enough to get by.'

While Lee acknowledged some calls to raise the federal minimum wage to $20 or $25 an hour, she said she has to be focused on what Californians need and what is considered affordable in her state.

Thao was indicted in January after being the center of anFBI investigation that focused on the city's relations with the powerful Duong family, which operates its curbside recycling program.

Shecould spend the rest of her life in jail after being indicted for allegedly funneling city contracts to two businessmen in exchange for money and benefits for herself and her partner.

Thao, her 'longtime partner' Andre Jones and two local businessmen, Andy and David Duong, were all named in an indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and mail and wire fraud unsealed on Friday.

Andy Duong also was charged with one count of lying to federal agents.

Federal prosecutors allege that Thao agreed that the city would purchase housing units from one of the Duongs' companies and renew the city's contract with a recycling company David Duong owned.

In exchange, David Duong and his son Andy are alleged to have promised to fund a $75,000 negative mailer campaign during the run-up to the 2022 election. They are also accused of a plan to funnel $95,000 in payments disguised as wages for a job that Jones did not need to show up for.

If convicted of all counts, each faces up to 35 years in prison if the sentences run concurrently.

However, should the judge choose to sentence consecutively the tariff could be as high as 95 years.

Andy Duong also faces an additional five years if convicted of lying to agents.

California

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