Jan. 8 (UPI) — Former U.S. Rep Barbara Lee on Wednesday announced a run for mayor of Oakland, Calif. She also launched a campaign website.
“Oaklanders have always overcome challenges by coming together,” Lee said in her X post. “At this critical moment, we must not be a city divided, but a community united.”
Lee’s mayoral campaign comes after she lost a U.S. Senate primary bid.
She said she is running for Oakland mayor to unite the city and make it stronger and safe.
Oakland voters recalled Mayor Sheng Thao in November after her home was searched by the FBI.
Lee, 78, had been in Congress representing Oakland since 1998, but she decided last year not to seek re-election to that seat.
On her campaign website, Lee said in a statement, “Working together, we will provide shelter/services/programs to our unhoused residents, invest in public safety and violence prevention programs, and provide more housing, education, and economic development in historically underrepresented communities.”
She said she would be a hands-on mayor.
She was a progressive icon in Congress and has strong name recognition in Oakland.
A special mayoral election is scheduled for April 15.
Lee was one of 21 congressional Democrats who wrote to the Drug Enforcement Administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland in April 2024 urging a swift federal rescheduling of marijuana.
It is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug and treated as a hard drug with no medicinal value by federal law.
In July, Lee co-sponsored impeachment articles against Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.; and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas.
