Former city councilmember Loren Taylor, former city staffer Renia Webb join Oakland mayoral race
Former Councilmember Loren Taylor, former city staffer Renia Webb join race for Oakland mayor
Loren Taylor and Renia Webb said they recognize the significant challenges Oakland faces, from safety concerns to financial instability. They’re confident that with their expertise, integrity and commitment, they can move Oakland forward.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Friday marks the deadline to file official paperwork to run for Oakland mayor.
In just a few months, Oakland voters will select a new mayor in a special election. Tonight, I spoke with a former councilmember and a city staffer who say they're ready to move Oakland forward.
"If we vote for the same thing… we can expect the same results that we have been seeing..." said former city councilmember, small business owner, and third-generation Oakland resident Loren Taylor on the steps of City Hall Thursday.
He spoke alongside supporters before filing official paperwork for his mayoral bid.
"Number one, when we talk about public safety, we have to make sure that we have enough officers on the ground to respond to emergencies quickly. Oaklanders struggle to feel safe in our own city. We had six homicides in the first half of January," Taylor said.
Taylor, who describes himself as a pragmatic progressive, lost to now-recalled Mayor Sheng Thao in the 2022 mayoral election by fewer than 700 votes in Oakland's ranked-choice voting system.
"We need to restore trust instead of breaking it down. We need to create greater confidence in our system being able to deliver and not be distracted by all of these things, including potential corruption," Taylor added.
Former city staffer and elementary school educator Renia Webb, who plans to file her paperwork Friday, said she also wants to restore integrity to public office and make Oakland safer.
"We cannot even get to cleaning up our streets, we can't get to supporting our businesses until we get our streets safe," Webb said.
Webb resigned from her role as chief of staff after she said she observed unethical and illegal behavior in Thao's office. She said she was subpoenaed to testify last month before a federal grand jury about her former boss and Thao's boyfriend, Andre Jones.
"Her exact words were, 'You're going to be making close to $200,000, and we're going to be setting up our families for life,' so obviously she was talking about making my salary to be chief of staff in the mayor's office on the front end and that I was going to be able to make money on the back end by whatever criminal activities that they were going to be involved in," Webb said.
The special election will be held April 15. More than a dozen people pulled initial papers stating their intention to run in December.