Ten candidates will be on the November ballot for Oakland, California's mayoral race.
Polls closed in the state at 8 p.m. local time, or 11 p.m. EST.
2022 General EmbedsIncumbent Mayor Libby Schaaf, a Democrat, is leaving office following two consecutive four-year terms, which is the maximum an Oakland mayor can serve. While Oakland's mayoral election is nonpartisan, the city has a history of electing Democrats and Democratic-leaning politicians to fill the mayoral position.
The 10 candidates vying to replace Schaaf are: former councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, former Oakland Unified School District board member Gregory Hodge, paralegal in the California Attorney General's office Tyron Jordan, District 7 Oakland City councilmember Treva Reid, retired carpenter John Reimann, neighborhood organizer Seneca Scott, District 6 councilmember Loren Taylor, District 4 councilmember Sheng Thao, Alyssa Victory Villanueva, and Peter Yuan Liu, an Army veteran who's had unsuccessful runs for Oakland mayor and California governor.
Like many local races, the top issue is how to tackle the city's crime problem. Homicides in Oakland were up more than 50% in 2021, when the number of murders peaked at 100 for the first time in a decade. Last month, the shooting of a 60-year-old man marked the city's 100th death by violence.
Other top issues include dealing with the city's homelessness and affordable housing crises.
The nonpartisan election will be held using ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank up to three candidates, in order of preference, when marking their ballots.