jean quan is almost the mayor of oakland

Could Jean Quan be the next mayor of Oakland? As I write this, the race is still undecided. The initial vote count seemed to indicate that her opponent Don Perata was in the lead, but after all the number crunching of Oakland's ranked-choice voting system, it appears that Quan has taken the lead -- with provisional ballots still uncounted: Oakland mayor election still undecided.

On Tuesday, Quan held a news conference and said she remained cautiously optimistic but acknowledged the race was still too close to call. In preparation for a possible win, she said she will soon assemble a transition team.

As a synonymous pairing, Quan and Rebecca Kaplan, a city councilwoman who finished third, were better candidates than Perata was alone. And there were no political consultants who understood the depth of voter resentment toward Perata, an old-school machine politician and go-to political fundraiser for the state Democratic Party.

When the final votes are tallied, Oakland residents may wind up with the mayoral candidate who received less first-place votes than her closest rival, but tallied more second-place votes than anyone has seen before, to become the city's next mayor.

The transfer of votes in such bulk is unprecedented in the history of ranked-choice voting in the nation, political experts said. No one saw this coming.

More here: Oakland ranked ballot: Least-hated tops most-liked. It sounds confusing, and made the election extremely close, but it looks like when the dust clears, Jean Quan will be Oakland's first female and first Asian American mayor: Oakland Mayor's Race Shocker - Jean Quan Is Unofficially Mayor Of Oakland.