OAKLAND — Lots of of hundreds of {dollars} are pouring into the race to decide on Oakland’s subsequent mayor — and virtually the entire cash helps Barbara Lee and Loren Taylor, the 2 candidates broadly seen as frontrunners.
The shortened fundraising cycle forward of the April 15 particular election has up to now seen the 2 main candidates generate comparable ranges of contributions, although labor spending to assist Lee’s mayoral bid is reliably dominating the sphere of outdoor funding.
The marketing campaign for Lee, the just lately retired East Bay congresswoman, raised roughly $293,000 from particular person donors between Jan. 1 and the top of the most recent submitting interval, March 1.
Taylor’s marketing campaign raised about $253,000 in particular person contributions over the identical interval, although it additionally had raised a further $57,000 by Dec. 31, earlier than Lee launched her marketing campaign the next month.
“Despite Barbara Lee’s universal name identification and long career in Congress, Taylor’s fundraising results further show that his message is resonating with Oakland residents and the race to become Oakland’s next Mayor is likely to be close,” the marketing campaign declared.
Former Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor, left, who misplaced the race to Sheng Thao two years in the past, talks to an attendee throughout an Oakland Empower watch social gathering in Jack London Sq. in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
The 2 seem locked in a head-to-head showdown to determine who leads Oakland by November 2026, although others within the 10-candidate race might assist affect the ultimate end result by the town’s ranked-choice voting system.
There may be overlap amongst their supporters. Jesse Pollak, a cryptocurrency government whose political committee flooded final November’s election with spending, together with on the recall of former Alameda County District Legal professional Pamela Value, gave $650 to each campaigns.
As cash goes, what might play a bigger function than the money raised by the 2 campaigns is all that’s spent by impartial political committees constructed to assist them.
A committee named Supporters of Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor 2025 has raised $168,000 in contributions, together with $50,000 from every of the town’s two largest public-employee labor unions, SEIU Native 1021 and IFPTE Native 21, plus $10,000 from the town firefighters’ union.
Pacific Fuel and Electrical Co. has donated $10,000 to the committee and Progressive Period PAC, a San Francisco-based political motion committee, gave $20,000.
Former Rep. Barbara Lee poses for a photograph with Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins, to her left, and others, at Metropolis Corridor after Lee filed paperwork to run for mayor in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. To the correct is Fluid 510 bar proprietor Richard Fuentes and to the left is Chinatown Chamber Of Commerce President Carl Chan. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
Taylor, in the meantime, has obtained assist from a committee named Oakland Neighbors, Companies & Public Security Advocates for Loren Taylor for Mayor 2025, which up to now has raised $36,000.
That features $25,000 from Lafayette actual property developer Ronald Nahas, and $10,000 from retired insurance coverage lawyer Charles Freiberg.
The committee is led by Brenda Grisham, a outstanding activist within the recall effort of Pamela Value, the previous Alameda County district legal professional recalled by voters final November.
These committees, unbound by the identical limits on particular person donations that cap marketing campaign fundraising, will usually douse a race with money within the last days earlier than an election — often for marketing campaign flyers mailed to voters’ houses or tv advertisements.
Presently, the town has contribution limits of $650 for particular person donors and $1,300 for established political committees that meet sure standards. Contributions to impartial committees, however, can usually vary into tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
Impartial expenditures are broadly seen as having helped former Mayor Sheng Thao eke out a victory over Taylor within the 2022 mayoral election, wherein labor teams racked up $700,000 in impartial spending.
Taylor has gone to lengths to subtly draw comparisons between Lee and Thao, who was recalled in November, federally indicted in January and now faces years in federal jail if convicted on bribery and conspiracy expenses.
Lee, who opposed Thao’s recall however has since distanced herself from the ex-mayor, has refused to touch upon Taylor straight, insisting her marketing campaign is about selling herself and avoiding political squabbles.
A small variety of recall organizers have backed Lee’s marketing campaign, together with former metropolis council candidate Derreck Johnson, who donated $650.
Lee and Taylor are set to debate Tuesday night on the Oakland Museum of California, an occasion hosted partially by Empower Oakland, a political group Taylor based earlier than working for mayor.
Initially Revealed: March 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM PDT
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