{"id":325394,"date":"2026-05-21T00:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/325394\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T00:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T00:22:14","slug":"oakland-mayor-barbara-lee-signals-shell-run-for-full-term-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/325394\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee Signals She\u2019ll Run for Full Term in November"},"content":{"rendered":"

On her first anniversary in office, the former East Bay representative promised Oaklanders continued stability and growth. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mayor Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026.\u00a0(Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n

In the face of these challenges, Lee promised Oakland \u201cstability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked at what was taking place in the city because of that instability and chaos and divisiveness, I thought it was the best decision to make for the good of the city to first come in and say we\u2019re going to try to minimize the chaos and the confusion,\u201d Lee said. \u201cAnd create a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

That vision was tested last week, when public records revealed a series of inappropriate text messages City Administrator Jestin Johnson had sent about female colleagues in 2024. In one, Johnson described a female subordinate as his \u201ckryptonite,\u201d and wrote: \u201cMy goodness, [she] has a helluva walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Barbara Lee, Kyra Mungia, co-founder of Rooted, politicians, teachers and supporters participate in a ribbon cutting during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/p>\n

Lee said she was unaware of the texts until they became public and opened an investigation in response. She accepted Johnson\u2019s resignation on Sunday and appointed Assistant City Administrator Betsy Lake as his interim replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI acted decisively,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

The texts surfaced alongside documents subpoenaed during the FBI\u2019s ongoing corruption investigation<\/a> into Thao, who appointed Johnson as city administrator in 2023 to oversee the city\u2019s day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

In other messages from 2024, Johnson texted former Assistant City Administrator Harold Duffey, saying a female department head \u201chad me a little giddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, you have to sit next to her,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI have to force myself to only look into her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee alluded to Johnson when she said that she kept former members of Thao\u2019s staff on when she took office a year ago because of the need for stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a smooth transition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That pursuit has guided much of the former East Bay representative\u2019s first year in mayoral office.<\/p>\n

She released her first budget proposal for 2026-27<\/a> on Friday, which will determine whether Oakland can maintain or increase critical services, or whether cuts are on the way. Lee has pinned many of her ambitions on Measure E, a new parcel tax on the June ballot that could add $34 million in additional revenue each year.<\/p>\n

Lee also pointed to her success in reinstating a summer youth employment program<\/a>, bringing two new banks to the city and using new AI drone technology to crack down on illegal dumping.<\/p>\n

She has deliberately avoided public fights with the City Council, describing her approach as one of \u201crestraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome wonder why I don\u2019t exercise my authority breaking ties,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy would I break a tie to create more instability?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her reasoning, she said, is that Oakland needs to change how it\u2019s perceived in order to compete for business investment \u2014 and the jobs and economic activity that come with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee reflected on her first anniversary in office this week. The former East Bay representative promised Oaklanders continued stability and growth. (Joe Sohm\/Visions of America\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be able to show the rest of the country and the world and Wall Street that the chaos was going to end,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Lee, another way to encourage stability in Oakland is to change the government\u2019s structure. Lee and Council President Kevin Jenkins are pushing a ballot measure to turn Oakland into a \u201cstrong mayor\u201d city.<\/p>\n

Oakland currently operates under a hybrid form of government where power is split between the mayor, city administrator and city council. Lee argued that the arrangement makes it difficult to hold anyone accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny form of a hybrid creates confusion, chaos and is really frustrating for residents because they don\u2019t know where the buck stops,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, power would be concentrated in the mayor\u2019s office, giving the mayor veto power over city council votes, including the budget, and more direct oversight of city departments. Council could still override a veto with a two-thirds vote. The measure would strengthen the council in other ways, making it full-time instead of part-time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Oakland City Hall in Oakland on April 28, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento\/KQED)<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s Rules and Legislation Committee is set to hear the official proposal tomorrow and will decide whether to place it before voters on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

In the Bay Area, only San Francisco currently uses a true \u201cstrong mayor\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Some critics see Lee\u2019s proposal as a power grab. But Lee rejected that characterization, instead arguing that it would make the city more efficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to be involved in a power struggle with anybody in Oakland,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI want this city to function, I want the services to be delivered and I want you to know who\u2019s accountable, whether it\u2019s me as mayor or whoever is elected as mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee told the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> that she would formally announce after the June primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to actually another four years as mayor,\u201d she told KQED. \u201cWe have many challenges but many opportunities, and I\u2019m determined that Oakland is going to be the cleanest and safest city in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On her first anniversary in office, the former East Bay representative promised Oaklanders continued stability and growth. Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-325394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}