Oakland, California, is navigating one of its most turbulent political moments in decades.
Two of its top elected leaders, Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price, are fighting for their political careers in a growing movement to oust them from office. The campaigns to recall them in November have been fueled by voters frustrated over crime, corruption, businesses closings, and a reluctance to hold lawbreakers accountable.
Sheng, whose home was raided by the FBI earlier this year, has been dogged by pay-to-play allegations since almost the beginning of her four-year term. She is now part of a federal investigation linked to an influential Oakland family that has donated to her campaign, as well as other elected officials.
Thao’s problems have snowballed in the past few months. Not only was her home raided, but her lawyer cut her as a client while her former chief of staff and confidante Renia Webb spoke publicly about questionable moves the mayor has made.
Voters in Oakland want Thao gone, and if their efforts come to fruition, it could leave a lasting impact not only on her political career but also on the city as a whole.
The recall attempt against Thao marks the first time in more than 100 years that such action has been taken against a sitting mayor in Oakland. The last time a recall vote took place was in 1917. It was against Mayor John Davis and did not pass. Former Democratic Mayors Libby Schaaf and Jean Quan also faced recall attempts, but neither made the ballot.
If Thao is voted out on Nov. 5, the issue over who will replace her and how the city will move forward on pressing matters, such as budget woes and public safety concerns, isn’t as cut and dry as it would seem.
For her part, Thao told KTVU that removing her from office would bring a lot of “instability” to Oakland.
If voters decide they want another mayor in November, Thao would lose her job immediately. Typically, the city council president would fill in as mayor.
But there’s a problem.
City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas is running for Alameda County supervisor. If she wins, she can’t fill the role as mayor because she would have to vacate her spot on the council. In a normal year, the president pro tempore would be elevated to the council president position. However, President Pro Tempore Dan Kalb was forced to give up his council seat when he ran for state Senate. He lost that race but cannot return to his former job without being elected.
That means when the new council takes its oath in January, it would then have to vote for a council president who, in turn, would become Oakland’s interim mayor. A new election for mayor, according to city rules, would have to take place within four months of a November ousting.
“The recall is going to create another year of political chaos in Oakland,” Jim Ross, a political consultant in Oakland, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Is the current situation in Oakland so bad that voters are willing to put up with at least another year of political instability and leadership change to move forward? That’s the question that voters have to answer.”
Thao said in the KTVU interview that keeping her at the helm would cause the least amount of disruption. She added that a new mayor would bring in his or her own executive team and that it would take time to get into the groove of the job.
“[There] would be so much turnover when we are already headed on the right track,” she said.
Thao, a progressive politician, was elected in 2022 on promises she would bring the city together and tackle crime and homelessness.
She was part of a political shift in the already liberal city that saw the city council also become majority progressive.
The effort to oust Thao began after she fired Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong after an outside investigation found he had mishandled two officer misconduct cases. City leaders, the NAACP, and Armstrong supporters demanded she hire him back. She refused.
But that was just the beginning.
Critics claim Thao has done nothing to help clean up the community or make a substantial dent in the city’s crime crisis. They accuse her of missing important deadlines to get state money to combat retail theft and turned her back on law enforcement.
Gail Harbin, one of the lead recall organizers, hit back at Thao’s argument that a new mayor would only cause more confusion and instability.
“Over 40,000 Oakland voters, outraged by an unstable city created by Thao’s incompetence, have placed the first recall in over a century on the ballot,” Harbin said in a statement. “Under Mayor Thao’s watch, crime has surged, and her incompetence has only deepened the chaos.”
Not only did Thao fire a “respected police chief, but she also missed an $18 million grant to combat retail theft, and caused a situation where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) had to send in California Highway Patrol officers to help combat crime in the city of Oakland,” she said.
“Oakland’s collapse under her leadership is impossible to ignore,” Harbin added.
Over in Alameda County, people also want Price gone.
Price, who ran as a progressive and was elected to serve a six-year term, faced a recall campaign early into her term, just three months after her inauguration, to be exact.
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The recall is a historic moment in Alameda County and is the first recall of a district attorney to make it on the ballot in the county’s 174-year history.
If Price is successfully recalled, Alameda County would be without a permanent head prosecutor until 2028.
