Plot

Nat Bates For Mayor tells the story of the outrageous 2014 mayor's race in Richmond, home to the second largest refinery in California. In a brazen move, Chevron spent more than $3 million to back 83-year-old African American stalwart Nat Bates. Bates makes a Faustian bargain with the city's corporate behemoth in a cagey attempt to preserve the long-standing but waning power of Richmond's African-American working class community, whose rich history dates back to the formation of the Kaiser shipyards during World War Two.