THERE ARE 10 CANDIDATES on the ballot for Oakland’s April 15 special mayoral election to replace Sheng Thao, who lost a recall election and is now the subject of a federal corruption trial.
The candidates are former Oakland City Council member Loren Taylor, former U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, perennial local candidates Mindy Pechenuk and Peter Liu, former Olympian/comedian and barista Elizabeth Swaney, former Thao advisor Renia Webb, Bay Area Council vice president Suz Robinson, a woman named President Christina Grappo — who describes herself as a “provider” on her official ballot designation, paralegal Tyron Jordan and union factory worker Eric Simpson.
All candidates were given several weeks to return a candidate questionnaire, except for Simpson, for whom contact information couldn’t be found. Taylor, Lee, Liu and Pechenuk submitted answers, Webb declined to participate, and Jordan suspended his campaign to support Lee. The other candidates didn’t send in responses.
Meet the candidates
Loren Taylor is a former city councilmember and founder of the well-connected political advocacy organization Empower Oakland. Taylor previously ran for mayor against Thao in 2022 and narrowly lost the election to her by less than 700 votes after nine rounds of ranked-choice voting.
A third-generation Oaklander, Taylor has a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
He and Lee appear to be the front runners in the ranked-choice election.
Barbara Lee, a Texas native, served Oakland and northern Alameda County in Congress from 1998 to 2025. She also served in the State Assembly for 6 years and the State Sente for two. She earned an undergraduate degree from Mills College in Oakland and a master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley.
She volunteered with the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and worked on the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to seek a major political party’s presidential nomination.
Mindy Pechenuk, raised in Brookline, New York, is an outspoken Donald Trump supporter who was active in the recalls of Thao and former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. She has run for State Assembly twice and Oakland’s at-large city council seat but has yet to score a win.
Another candidate who has run for multiple offices in the past is Peter Liu, a U.S. Army veteran and Oakland High School alumnus. Once mocked on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Liu bills himself as “the world’s smartest leader” and says he can teach people to become billionaires.
Elizabeth Swaney, who grew up in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, skied for the Hungarian Olympic team in 2018. She was a polarizing figure due to her last place finish and accusations that she gamed the system to be included in the competition when she was just an average skier.
Swaney is an alumnus of both UC Berkeley and Harvard University and has suggested Oakland raise money by selling corporate naming rights to City Hall and city-owned other facilities.
Renia Webb was a top Thao staffer during her tenure on the Oakland City Council. She has since distanced herself from her scandal-ridden former boss.
Webb is an Oakland native who works at Crocker Highlands Elementary School and has helped the gun-safety group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America at the state level to push for gun safety legislation.
Suz Robinson is vice president of governance for the Bay Area Council, a business group that develops public policy recommendations for local governments throughout the region.
Robinson says she has participated in the city’s community policing efforts served as chairperson for a nonprofit supporting LGBTQAI addiction recovery programs and HIV programs and has volunteered with SF Pride’s Community Partner Program for many years.
President Christina Grappo says she was born in Oakland, graduated from Bishop O’Dowd High School and earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She says she has worked for the U.S. Census Bureau and as a local poll worker.
Eric Simpson is a factory worker and union member who says workers should take political power out of the hands of the capitalist class. He says he supports large-scale, federally funded public works programs.
Tyron Jordan is a paralegal who went to high school in Fairfield and earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento. He said he has suspended his campaign to support Lee.
Excerpts from the questionnaire
Why do you want to be mayor of Oakland and what makes you qualified to lead a major American city?
Barbara Lee: Oakland is my home, and it’s at a critical crossroads. I’m running for Mayor because I have the experience, relationships, and resolve to guide Oakland through this challenging moment. As a hands-on leader, I’ll secure our fair share of resources and make the tough decisions required to stabilize city government. My priorities are clear:
- Keep Oakland safe and address gun violence.
- Confront our homelessness crisis and protect affordable housing.
- Restore public trust by building a responsive, transparent and accountable city government.
- Balance the budget and ensure long-term solvency.
I’ve represented Oakland in the State Legislature and in Congress, delivering billions in housing, transportation, public safety, and community investments. I bring a leadership style grounded in collaboration and results. That’s why I’m proud to have the support of seven former Mayors and City Administrators, nearly every current Councilmember, and organizations representing workers, small businesses, and communities across Oakland.
Loren Taylor: I’m a third-generation Oakland native, and I’ve dedicated my career to public service and uplifting our community. As an East Oakland Councilmember, I used my experience as an engineer and management consultant to deliver concrete results for Oaklanders by confronting complex issues head-on. I drafted Oakland’s Encampment Management Policy, added 800 new affordable housing units to the development pipeline, fought drastic cuts to safety, co-created/co-led a violence prevention task force, and secured $8 million for East Oakland entrepreneurship.
I am running to be Oakland’s next Mayor because quality of life continues to deteriorate in Oakland and we deserve leaders who are committed, connected, and capable of making Oakland safer, cleaner, and full of opportunities for all. We cannot give in to leaders who are out of touch, out for their own gain, or unwilling to make necessary decisions.
Oaklanders do not trust that City Hall will be responsive to their needs, so I am running to restore trust and bring transparent and effective leadership that delivers results. I will bring the independent and pragmatic leadership needed to turn this city around, leveraging my experience solving difficult problems inside and outside City Hall.
Peter Liu: Never ask for donation. Infamous wealthy combat veteran shows you how to be millionaire in two years & billionaire in ten years with method CESP5: Organize 7+ people, charge participants $200 each. Bring business ideas, participant with best idea is voted to be president of the company. Based on resumes, vote who be treasurer and secretary. Rest are co-founders. If nine showed up, you’re the tenth, take ten percent ownership. Average one game per day, be millionaire in two years with 730 companies. Ten years later, portfolio may worth $100 Billion. Can surplus the city budget by having massive CESP5 seminars with millions of my new fans. CESP5 counters jobs lost due to AI displacing wage earners and salaried professionals. Journey along as we on track to be free from money worries, even if you had posted free Palestine on Twitter, X, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Mindy Pechenuk: I have 50 years experience in economics, education, and building movements. Oakland needs a Mayor who is going to make big changes, and not play by the rules of the games that have destroyed our city over many decades.
Oakland is in the midst of a painful budget cycle and, after cutting $130 million to programs and services, the city still faces an estimated $280 million shortfall over the next two years. How would you balance the city’s budget? If your solution includes budget cuts, please be specific about what programs and/or services you’d eliminate. If it doesn’t, how will you come up with the required revenue?
Barbara Lee: I understand the severity of Oakland’s budget shortfall, and I’m committed to balancing the budget responsibly. The deficit didn’t happen overnight, and we won’t fix it with just one solution. We need a balanced approach — not just cuts, not just new revenue, but a smart, long-term strategy to stabilize city finances while protecting essential services. As Mayor, I will prioritize fiscal responsibility, bring in new resources, and ensure city dollars are spent efficiently to serve Oakland residents. My plan to get Oakland’s budget back on track: 1) Increase revenue without burdening residents; 2) Control spending and ensure fiscal responsibility; 3) Strengthen our long-term financial stability.
Loren Taylor: Councilmembers and Mayoral administrations have failed to address the budget challenges because they have been unwilling to make the hard and necessary choices to put the city on solid financial footing. It has been easier to make a short-term decision that improves one’s political prospects than to tell a hard truth and make a hard choice that puts Oakland on a more positive trajectory.
As Mayor, I am prepared to make the hard, necessary, and potentially unpopular choices that preserve the City of Oakland and its bright future. I am committed to ensuring a balanced, fiscally responsible budget that prioritizes essential services, economic growth, and long-term stability for Oakland.
My first priority will be preserving public safety including adequately funding the police and fire department. Next, I will prioritize revenue generating city activities by collecting all taxes and fees that are due to the city.
Finally, I will prioritize preserving programs and services that demonstrate strong performance and effectively meet their goals. I will bring in a neutral third-party to audit our books so that we are starting from a solid factual foundation and leveraging best practices from other better-performing cities. I will require concessions from the city’s primary budget stakeholders. Large companies, service providers, unions, and others will all need to engage in discussions about how we can help Oakland thrive.
I will also aggressively pursue outside funding opportunities and public private partnerships. We need to actively seek and successfully obtain outside funding opportunities, such as grants and foundation funding.
Finally, I will work with professional advisors to restructure and refinance our debt and significantly reduce the over $150 million in interest we are paying on our debt each year. By increasing revenue through smart economic development, eliminating wasteful spending, and securing state and federal funding, we can strengthen our city’s financial foundation without placing undue burdens on residents by drastically cutting services.
Peter Liu: Sell concealed carry permits for $200 to Californian residents. There is about 4 million adults in the SF Bay Area and 25 million adults statewide.
Mindy Pechenuk: First of all you need to bring the “DOGE” into Oakland. I would clean out all the corrupted union contracts that are sucking the money out of this city and is not helping the working class. This city has been looted, money going into NGO’s, Non Profits and Green projects which need to stop and the funds redirected. For example the MACRO project is getting about $5 million a year and is not helping our police at all. We need to stop the pay to plays. Instead we need to make Oakland productive again and see our local businesses grow. I would bring back manufacturing, industry we need to have a real physical economy, with productive jobs for our citizens. I would increase our police, fire, sanitation departments and re-open the police academies.
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