Marshawn Lynch, the former star NFL running back and Super Bowl champion, hinted at a possible run for mayor of Oakland on the podcast he co-hosts with his longtime agent, Doug Hendrickson, and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) this week.
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“It might be a possibility,” Lynch said of a bid to lead in the embattled East Bay city.
Oakland is in the middle of one of its most turbulent times in decades, fueled by its mayor, Sheng Thao, who is being recalled next month by voters frustrated over crime, corruption, and a reluctance to hold lawbreakers accountable. Thao was also linked to an FBI investigation and had her house raided. She claims she did nothing wrong and has been the target of outside right-leaning groups that want her out.
Thao has been asked to resign by several other groups, including the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, which claimed the city has become an “international embarrassment” under her watch, as and the NAACP, as well as Steve Garvey, the Republican candidate running for Senate against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
There are problems in Alameda County, too, where Oakland is the county seat.
Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price, a Democrat, is also being recalled over gross mismanagement and letting criminals walk.
Thao and Price were voted into office together as part of a progressive wave of officials who have since become problematic for the city.
Oakland has also lost all of its major professional sports teams, which hits close for Lynch.
Newsom discussed what a Lynch campaign would look like on the podcast Politickin.
Lynch, the University of California, Berkeley, alumnus and Oakland native, said he was encouraged to run but joked about how his campaign would mirror the Head of State movie, which co-starred Chris Rock and the late Bernie Mac. The movie follows a minor politician who unexpectedly becomes president and uncovers all the swampy underpinnings of politics.
“Do you remember when Bernie Mac was walking through, when he was slapping the s*** out of everybody?” Lynch asked. “That’s how I would be coming through there … slapping the s*** out of everybody, like, ‘Get your s*** together.’”
Lynch asked Newsom not to discuss Lynch’s chances or a possible mayoral bid publicly.
“Leave that s*** alone, Batman,” Lynch said, the nickname he uses for Newsom.
That didn’t stop the Democratic governor who said he’s seen private polling that indicated Lynch’s favorability in the city was through the roof. Newsom said Lynch had 43% favorability among Oakland voters versus a 7% unfavorable view of the football player, known to inhale Skittles on the sidelines of games and who launched Dodi Blunts this year, which features products infused with THCa diamonds.
“That’s off the charts, brother,” Newsom said. “Seven percent unfavorable? That never has happened in my life.”
He added, joking about himself: “Seventy percent unfavorable!”
Newsom holds a 23.6% favorability rating and a 46.7% unfavorable rating, based on 29 polls, according to the Hill.
Newsom said when pollsters read respondents Lynch’s biography and his ties to Oakland, his favorability jumped to 61%, though his unfavorability took a hit, ticking up to 23%. Newsom did not say who conducted the poll but suggested he is waiting for the full report.
The governor said there would be some challenges for Lynch should he decide to run, adding that the people polled wanted someone who is “intimately familiar with how government works and operates.”
Lynch, while a legend on the field, has no political experience. He played for the Buffalo Bills, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Oakland Raiders.
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“The bottom line, Marshawn, is your favorable and unfavorable [ratings] put you in a position against anyone else they polled in the field, which is some of the biggest names in California politics from East Bay,” Newsom said.
The governor did not say who else was measured in the poll but called them “household names.”
