In the upcoming special election for Oakland mayor, one candidate is receiving support from a mayor of another large Bay Area city.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat, endorsed former city councilmember Loren Taylor in the election, which is scheduled for April 15.

Taylor's opponent, former Rep. Barbara Lee, has secured a longlist of endorsements from Democrats, including former California Governor and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, and Rep. Lateefah Simon, Lee's successor in Congress.

Since she was elected to the state assembly in 1990, Lee hasn't stopped serving in public office.

Following three terms in the Assembly, she was elected as a state senator in 1996. Lee won a special election in 1998 to become a U.S. Representative and was re-elected 12 times.

Now as a mayoral candidate in Oakland's special election in April, she brings decades of political experience, name recognition, fundraising advantages, and well-known endorsements.

While announcing his endorsement on Thursday, Mahan said Taylor represented a much-needed shift in both the Democratic Party and governance.

"The division, if anything, is between the status quo and an establishment that has become complacent (and) that's frankly become a club of insiders who look out for one another. (They) have each other's backs to protect their power, their privilege, their position. (They've) stopped focusing on what we're here to do, which is to change outcomes for our community," Mahan said. "We need to reinvent government. Reinventing government's not going to be done by folks - no matter how much we respect them, no matter how much we honor, and admire them - folks who have been steeped in it and are part of the establishment, and have been doing it for 30, 40 years."

During Thursday's announcement in the Laurel District, Taylor called the mayoral race "a statistical tie."

 "Even some polling (is) showing that we're ahead," he said.

In response to Mahan's endorsement of Taylor, a spokesperson for Lee's mayoral campaign sent the following statement:

"Barbara Lee is the only candidate who has built the coalition needed to govern in Oakland on day one. She is a tested and proven leader who is singularly focused on keeping Oakland safe, tackling our housing crisis, and making city government work for its people. That is why she is backed by seven former mayors and city administrators - including Jerry Brown and the current interim Oakland mayor - as well as virtually all the current Oakland city council members. Not to mention, county supervisors, state senators and assembly members, and Congresswoman Lateefah Simon," Bilen Mesfin, a spokesperson for Lee's mayoral campaign, stated on Thursday.