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The next mayor of Oakland will likely be decided by next week
New numbers were released late Thursday that showed the race for Oakland mayor remains tight. Council member Loren Taylor maintained his lead over council member Sheng Thao. After nine rounds of voting in this ranked-choice system, Taylor is ahead with 53% of the vote compared to Thao's 47%. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters says there will be a lot of ballots counted this weekend that will help provide a clearer picture as to who will be the next mayor of Oakland.
Oakland - New numbers from the election were released late Thursday that showed the race for Oakland mayor remains tight.
Council member Loren Taylor maintained his lead over fellow Council member Sheng Thao.
After nine rounds of voting in this ranked-choice system, Taylor is ahead with 53% of the vote compared to Thao's 47%.
Workers counting the ballots have the day off Friday due to the Veterans Day holiday.
But the Alameda County Registrar of Voters said 30,000 more ballots were counted Thursday and that workers will be counting through the weekend to get a substantial amount of ballots counted by Monday.
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Oakland is still days from knowing who its next mayor will be. The registrar of voters said there are still 120,000 ballots left to be counted.
As of Thursday, Taylor led Thao by just 2,765 votes.
He reacted to the vote count in a written statement:
"I am as eager as anyone to know the voters’ final decision, and believe even more strongly than I did on Tuesday night that we are on a path to victory."
Thao responded to the latest vote count in a written statement:
"We are so thankful to have received the votes of thousands of Oaklanders in this election. Thousands more votes remain to be counted, and we continue to be optimistic about the outcome."
Voters said the next mayor will have urgent problems to address.
"It matters that the person who wins pays attention to what people want. They want safety and they want the city cleaned up. I do. It's a nice city. It has a lot of good things to offer. But right now, it has a very bad reputation and unfortunately, well deserved," said voter Mary Padilla.
Thao said her priorities are implementing a comprehensive approach to public safety by focusing on the root causes of crime and stopping gun violence. She supported funding for police academies.
Taylor said his goal is to get things done and his priorities are addressing homelessness and public safety.
Both candidates have said they support keeping the A's in Oakland as long as it benefits the city and meets certain conditions.
"It's important to me to a degree. I don't want to bankrupt our city to do that," said voter Sarah Hesketh.
Voters told KTVU they will support whoever wins.
"It's a close race. It was a hard choice. We just cannot be divisive. There's a lot of work to do. There's a lot of work to get back to Oakland strong. We are strong. We love Oakland," said voter Joya Chavarin.
The Registrar of Voters plans to release results again Monday at 5 pm
Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU, Instagram @AmberKTVU or Twitter @AmberKTVU