Lailan Huen reflects on her mother's election as Oakland's mayor

By Yvonne Tran

For folks who have watched the local Oakland elections closely, the waiting ended at 6pm last night.  Jean Quan was declared the winner with 53,778 vs. Don Perata's 51,720. It was an incredibly tight race, with Quan receiving 50.98% and Perata with 49.02% of votes.

The election can be characterized in many ways.  One of the most exciting is how Quan's supporters mobilized, and how we saw the power of door-knocking beat the power of dollar-spending.  The only independent expenditure for Quan was from Oakland Rising, which spent $16,000 getting out the vote.  Perata raised well over $400,000 from the prison guards union, developers and police unions, most of which seemed to be spent on negative mailers. 

Jean Quan will be Oakland's first female mayor and first Asian American mayor. She is also this nation's first Asian American woman mayor of a major U.S. city. Quan is a Oakland native and previously served as a City Councilwoman for District 4. She had served on OUSD's board and been working in the community for over 20 years.

Last night, after the results were in, I sat down with Lailan Huen, Jean Quan's daughter to hear her reflections on her mom's campaign and her hopes for the next 4 years.