Loren Taylor is no populist rabble-rouser. With his good manners and his moderate politics, he would never be mistaken for someone aiming to burn down the political establishment. Yet in Oakland, where he’s running for mayor in a special election on April 15 against the East Bay’s enormously popular former congresswoman Barbara Lee, he has found himself the insurgent candidate running against the Democratic Party machine.
The mayoral contest comes at a brutal time for Oakland. Crime is rampant, businesses are pulling out of the city, and residents are increasingly frustrated by brazen crimes such as “ram raiding”—crashing cars into store entrances to loot—and “sideshows”—stunt drivers taking over streets to do doughnuts. To top it off, the city’s major league teams—Raiders, A’s, and Warriors—have all fled, a symbol of Oakland’s precipitous decline.
Like many of America’s big cities, Oakland is a one-party town. The city’s Democratic voters tend to follow the lead of the local Democratic political leadership. But this year may be different. As in Chicago, New York, and other Democratic strongholds, the political establishment has dragged Oakland into a state of near-catastrophe. The mayoral election may be a litmus test of how much failed leadership the party base is willing to tolerate.