During his term Alameda County gave the highest percentage of its Community Revenue Sharing money to community-based programs.

Under Republican governors, Bates authored over 220 bills that became law, including the creation of the East Bay Shoreline State Park, a number of progressive social policy laws including the Community Residential Treatment legislation ("the Bates Bill"), and the founding of the first Community Bank in the Bay Area.

[3] Bates personally stole approximately 200 copies of The Daily Californian on the day before the 2002 Berkeley mayoral election after the student-run campus newspaper endorsed his opponent, then-Mayor Shirley Dean.

Following his election, Bates led the city council in passing an ordinance that outlawed the stealing of free newspapers and gave a series of talks discussing his mistakes and what he learned from them.

[6] In addition to advocating dense, transit-oriented urban development, Bates worked to mitigate the effects of Berkeley's rapidly rising housing costs on the city's low-income residents.

After a year of negotiations in which the university agreed to increase its ongoing fiscal support for city services, the lawsuit was settled for $1.2 million.

)[9] In January 2008 Berkeley drew national attention when the city council passed a motion to send a letter to the US Marines to tell them they were "unwelcome intruders.

"[12] In November 2008 Bates was reelected to a third term by a large margin, defeating former mayor Shirley Dean 61% to 36% (two official write-in candidates won 3% collectively.

The film played in Berkeley and is scheduled for a New York release in February 2023 in an effort to promote a staged version.

In 2012 Bates was reelected to a fourth term with 55% of the vote, defeating opponents including Kriss Worthington, poet Mark Schwartz, and Jacquelyn McCormick.