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Mayor of Oakland

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City of Oakland

Mayor of Oakland

This person is Oakland's chief executive. They manage the city budget. They also oversee police and fire leadership. They set housing and homelessness policy.

Four candidates are on the ranked choice ballot for a full four-year term. Incumbent Barbara Lee won the 2025 special election after a recall removed her predecessor. The other candidates are Brenda F. Grisham, Mindy Ruth Pechenuk, and Julius Robinson. The Oaklandside says the field is smaller than Oakland's recent mayoral races.

The mayor is Oakland's chief executive: proposing the budget, appointing department leadership including police and fire, and setting the administration's direction on homelessness, housing and public safety. The term is four years.

Lee has held the office for about a year and a half of an unexpired term, so this is the first full-term verdict on her tenure. The challengers offer three different arguments against continuing it — a public-safety organizer, a hard-line policing platform, and a candidacy with no public record to weigh. Ranked-choice voting lets you rank as many as you have views on.

Barbara Lee

Barbara Lee is the incumbent. She was previously a longtime East Bay member of Congress. Before that, she was a state Assembly member. Voters chose her in the 2025 special election, and she is now seeking a full term. She says her administration balanced the city budget and reduced crime. She also says it made progress on homelessness and illegal dumping.

Brenda F. Grisham

Brenda F. Grisham is an East Oakland business owner and longtime public safety advocate. She led the successful recall campaign against the Alameda County District Attorney. Her platform promises work with local, state, and federal partners on stricter gun control measures. She also promises investment in community violence intervention programs.

Mindy Ruth Pechenuk

Mindy Ruth Pechenuk is an educator and activist who follows the LaRouche political movement. She ran for mayor in the 2025 special election. She also ran for the at-large council seat in 2024. She is a rare registered Republican seeking office in Oakland. Her platform would end the police commission and the MACRO response program. She would also hire more police and launch a local anti-drug campaign.

Julius Robinson

Julius Robinson's ballot title is Community Investment Executive. Press coverage found little about him. The Oaklandside said it could not find information about him. The Oakland Post found only a KTVU interview from the 2024 mayoral recall. In that interview, he said Oaklanders want to come together as a community. He said they lack infrastructure and leadership.

Financial info

Mindy Ruth Pechenuk

$14,498raised
  • Small donors$1,90714%
  • Individuals$12,13186%

Barbara Lee

$278,922raised
  • Small donors$16,7846%
  • Individuals$223,29982%
  • PACs & committees$24,2009%
  • Businesses & other orgs$9,1003%

Julius Robinson has no campaign committee with filings on record with the Oakland Public Ethics Commission for this race.

Brenda F. Grisham has no campaign committee with filings on record with the Oakland Public Ethics Commission for this race.

Figures are CA Form 460 filings through 2026-06-30, per the Oakland Public Ethics Commission's e-filed transaction exports, retrieved 2026-09-21.

Your pick

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

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