Lai Jean Quan (born October 21, 1949) is an American politician who served the 49th mayor of Oakland, California from 2011 to 2015.

[6] Quan ran an unsuccessful campaign for reelection in 2014, losing the mayoral race to Libby Schaaf, a member of the Oakland City Council.

Her family ties in the Bay Area date back to the 1870s, when her great-grandfather immigrated to San Francisco from Kaiping, Sze Yup(a region of Guangdong province ).

[11] In 2002, Quan was elected to her first term as Council Member for Oakland District 4 (Allendale, Brookdale, Crestmont, Dimond, Laurel, Maxwell Park, Melrose, Montclair, and Redwood Heights).

Police claimed Quan and Kaplan joined a "human chain" which prevented officers from clearing a street, while the two countered they were acting as "peacekeepers".

Quan was the victim of a street robbery in September of the same year, in front of the Dimond neighborhood Safeway supermarket.

[17] Quan capitalized on this visibility by traveling to and meeting with potential trade and business partners for the City and Port of Oakland.

[19] Two weeks later, Quan introduced a plan for the police department which included updating the technological staff and rehiring 10 of the 80 officers who were laid off the previous year.

[21] A KPIX/CBS5 poll taken just before Quan's first 100 days revealed that her job performance "garners the approval of the city's residents by a 2–1 margin.

The mayor's office was flooded with demands that protesters be released[30] and her legal adviser opposed the police action and threatened to resign.