Barbara Lee won the ground game and the mayor's office

Taylor concedes special election; Oakland progressives are cheerful and cocksure; Fight over forthcoming rent registry ordinance is coming to Hayward; Pleasanton officials are seeing orange

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—Barbara Lee’s tougher than expected path to the Oakland mayor’s office included a tenacious late ground game, a barrage of negative mailers, and almost universal name I.D. that Loren Taylor’s campaign could never quite overcome.

When Lee officially entered the Oakland special mayoral election race on Jan. 6, she only had Taylor to contend with. He joined the race just after Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was recalled from office in November.

A certain inevitability about Lee’s campaign was assumed by many at the time. But a series of errors by Lee, including admissions that she had no experience in local office began to poke holes in the certainty of her campaign.

By March, Taylor’s campaign began gaining on Lee, according to internal polls that turned out to be mostly accurate. Taylor outraised Lee, further fueling hope for his campaign and doubt for hers.

Lee’s message of unity and a vague policy platform also appeared to be falling flat with voters, while Taylor’s specificity and focus on public safety was beginning to resonate.

With about three weeks left in the campaign, the labor-backed independent expenditure committees in favor of Lee bounced into action. There was a mailer that attempted to link Taylor to the financial backers of President Trump. Others tied Taylor to crypto investors and Elon Musk.

While the mailers appeared to show desperation on labor’s part, they may have succeeded in softening Taylor’s support…

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—More inside:

• Taylor dominated in the Oakland hills, while Lee systematically carried the flatlands to victory.

• Updated Oakland special election results: Wang wins in District 2, Measure A wins easily.

• Lee celebrates victory, Taylor concedes, and progressives gloat.

• Hayward is planning to begin discussions for a rent registry this summer. In the meantime, the battle lines are forming on the city council.

• Pleasanton has a $10 million budget shortfall to deal with, but the proposed rebranding of a local gas station has the council seeing orange.

• San Leandro takes on the first of four public hearings before the introduction of district-based elections in 2026

—411 ON THE 510—Become an East Bay Insiders subscriber today and get FULL ACCESS to the inside scoop every weekday morning at 6 a.m. It’s what the insiders read.

—A new episode of the East Bay Insiders Podcast is available. Download Episode 109: Barbara Lee is Oakland’s mayor-elect. Now what?