US Midterms 2026
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Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland since 2025 and a member of the U.S. House from 1998 to 2025, has declared a bid for reelection as mayor in 2026.
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Recent media coverage for Barbara Lee.
The Bay Area Council hosted a discussion in Oakland about Measure EE, which aims to clarify authority between the Mayor and City Council and strengthen the Mayor’s management of city operations while preserving the…
Time and again, ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s chief of staff clashed with her boss on proposals that played central roles in the alleged bribery scheme that would later lead to the mayor’s indictment by a federal grand…
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is facing three opponents in the Nov. 3 election who have never held political office before -- community activist Brenda Grisham, serial candidate Mindy Pechenuk and former bank executive…
Barbara Lee is referenced as the Oakland mayor describing an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement aimed at a transformative economic development project.
Barbara Lee, who became Oakland’s mayor last year, is referenced in the context of ongoing corruption cases involving former Oakland mayor and city contractors.
No story this week names this candidate.
Barbara Jean Tutt was born on July 16, 1946, in El Paso, Texas, the eldest of the three daughters of Mildred Adaire and Garvin Alexander Tutt, an Army lieutenant colonel. In 1960 she relocated to California with her mother and sisters and graduated from San Fernando High School in 1964.
She later settled in the Bay Area, where she raised two children as a single mother while earning a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mills College in 1973 and a master of social work from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975.
At Mills College, where she led the Black Student Union, Lee worked on Shirley Chisholm's 1972 presidential campaign, and she volunteered with the Black Panther Party's Community Learning Center in Oakland.
She joined the office of Representative Ron Dellums and rose to chief of staff, leaving in 1987. Lee held a California State Assembly seat from 1990 to 1996, then a California State Senate seat from 1996 to 1998.
After Dellums resigned, she won the 1998 special election for his U.S. House seat with 66 percent of the vote and held it until 2025, representing a district numbered the 9th, then the 13th and finally the 12th.
In the House she chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus (2005 to 2009) and the Congressional Black Caucus (2009 to 2011), and in 2001 she cast the sole congressional vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed after the September 11 attacks.
In 2024 Lee ran for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Dianne Feinstein and placed behind Republican Steve Garvey and fellow Democrat Adam Schiff in the primary.
She then won the 2025 special election for mayor of Oakland, called after the recall of Sheng Thao, defeating former city councilmember Loren Taylor, and took office on May 20, 2025, as the city's first Black woman mayor.
After her victory in the 2025 special election, Lee has declared her intent to seek reelection as mayor of Oakland, California, in the election set for November 3, 2026. Community advocate Brenda Grisham is also a declared candidate.
