Former Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor joins mayor's race

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Friday, January 17, 2025
Former Oakland councilmember joins mayor's race
Former Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor announced that he is running for mayor.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- With his 92-year-old grandmother at his side, former Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor stated he was not giving up on Oakland -- and that's why he is running for mayor.

"I am a political outsider who has four years of experience. That's just enough to understand what's really going on, but not enough to be entrenched and enslaved to the forces that really have been driving things here in city hall," says Taylor, an Oakland native, who filed papers on Thursday.

Taylor served four years on city council beginning in 2018. He then lost the race for mayor in 2022 to Mayor Sheng Thao. She was recalled by voters in November, which lead to this special election coming in April.

Taylor toured some small downtown businesses Thursday morning. He said he wants to lead Oakland's expansion, which includes revenue generation, starting with small businesses and helping them to open and stay open.

MORE: Kevin Jenkins selected to serve as next interim mayor of Oakland; third mayor in 3 months

"When it comes to the bureaucracy, when it comes to permitting, when it comes to accessing resources, that has to be addressed," Taylor said.

Public safety will be another priority. Taylor said he wants to make the Oakland Police Department more efficient. He used the amount of time officers spend on paperwork as an example.

"We have to look at the process they are going through and minimize that so we get officers on the ground, more than they are at a desk typing up paperwork," Taylor said.

"If we vote for the same things that we have been voting for time and time again, we can expect the same results," Taylor told supporters at rally in front of city hall before filing his papers.

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Taylor said he isn't the same candidate that ran for city council. His four years in city hall had given him insight into how city hall operates, which will help him as mayor.

But some of Taylor's critics don't think he will be able to generate the voters for a second mayoral run, pointing out how Taylor was critical of ranked choice voting in his loss to former Mayor Thao.

"A lot of that was really the impetus of Loren Taylor. He is the one who pushed against rank choice voting. And as far as I know, he may have had some involvement and collaboration with folks who were working towards the recall. So, I also encourage us to think about what that means," said Vanessa Riles with the Oakland Peoples' Budget Coalition. The group does advocacy work on how to spend public funds with elected officials.

Taylor joins a field of more than 10 candidates, including former U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who filed papers last week.

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