Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was recalled Tuesday in a landslide amid voter discontent over the city’s rising crime rate, according to multiple reports.
Oakland voters recalled Thao by a margin over 30 points as of Wednesday, according to the unofficial Alameda County vote count and local reports. Thao assumed office in January 2023, with a city-wide crime report from that year revealed that motor vehicle thefts increased 44%, incidents of robbery increased 38%, and violent crime increased 21%.
A whopping 65.2% of the electorate voted to recall Thao at the time of writing, while only 34.8% voted against the recall, with 100% of precincts reporting.
Thao also had her house raided by the FBI. The reason for the raid has yet to be disclosed.
Thao’s term will now end this year instead of 2026, as she is now the first mayor in Oakland’s history to be removed from office, according to Oaklandside. A special election will be held within 120 days of the recall as the city council President Nikki Fortunato Bas will assume the responsibilities of mayor, according to the Oakland City Charter.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was also recalled by over 25 points, according to the unofficial count and multiple sources.
The Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) were frustrated with Thao, alleging her polices hamstrung the police force and drove business out of the city.
“Her legacy is going to be the destruction of the police department,” OPOA President Huy Nguyen told the Daily Caller News Foundation in October.
The recall campaign, titled “Recall Sheng Thao,” alleges Thao was responsible for “dismantling the Oakland Police Department (OPD),” losing the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball Team and unjustly firing former OPD chief LaRonne Armstrong for allegedly mishandling investigations into a police car accident and a weapons discharge from an officer.
The recall group cited an arbitrator report that exonerated him against claims of misconduct.
“Across Oakland, neighbors are uniting to restore the voice of the people and return values to our city that mayor Sheng Thao lacks — integrity and hard work,” the recall campaign wrote on their website. “In just a year, Thao’s incompetence and dishonesty accelerated Oakland’s decline, causing longstanding businesses to close and generational families to leave.”
Thao was elected in 2022 by a razor-thin margin, winning only 50.3% of the vote and her challenger Loren Taylor getting 49.7%, according to Alameda County. The most recent poll had recall support at 56%, with 25% supporting her, according to Binder Research in July.
Thao’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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