By

Jim Carlton

| Photography by Gabriela Hasbun for WSJ

OAKLAND, Calif.—This once-booming port city endured an epic collapse in recent years: the loss of three big-league sports teams, a hemorrhaging police force, runaway crime and blight.

Now, after recalling a mayor later indicted on federal corruption charges, Oakland appears to be turning the corner under her successor—former congresswoman Barbara Lee, among America’s best-known Democratic progressives.

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