Mayor Thao accepts recall, thanks voters for electing her: ‘It isn’t about me. … It has always been about Oakland.’

Oakland voters have recalled Mayor Sheng Thao.

With more than 65,000 votes tallied, 64% have said yes to a recall, prompting the need for a special election to elect a new mayor in a few months.

In a statement acknowledging her defeat Friday night, Thao said, “I am deeply proud of the progress we created together and I am committed to ensuring we stay on track by supporting a smooth transition. It isn’t about me. It never has been. It has always been about Oakland. And the changes we have enacted in these two short years will be felt for generations to come.”

Before Thao put out a statement, Seneca Scott, a spokesperson for Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, called on the mayor to step down immediately.

“I am very upset that the mayor is still delusional and refuses to step down,” Scott said. “We can’t let her do further harm to the city.” 

With less than half of the countywide ballots tallied Friday, Alameda County Registrar Tim Dupuis said counting will likely go on for weeks. But by Friday evening, it had become clear that Thao would not be able to close the gap.

Calls and messages to Thao’s campaign spokesperson went unanswered on Friday.

On election night, Thao said she was “very optimistic that Oaklanders are going to see through the millionaire person who actually funded this recall.” She was hinting at Phillip Dreyfuss, a partner at San Francisco’s Farallon Capital Management who largely bankrolled the recall effort.

City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was not as optimistic Wednesday, saying in a written statement, “While thousands of ballots remain to be counted and that process must be respected, it appears the voters have spoken.”

The campaign to recall Thao was launched in January by critics who said she had created a public safety crisis by “systematically dismantling” the Oakland Police Department and unjustly firing Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. The campaign gathered steam after an FBI raid of her home in June. Thao has not been charged with any crime, and she has said that she was not the target of the FBI raid. She has maintained her innocence and accused the agency of “overreach.”  

The FBI has not commented on the case. 

Armstrong, whom Thao fired a month after she took office in 2023, is running for the City Council at-large seat and is in a virtual tie with Rowena Brown, with each getting 28% of the votes so far. Thao had said she fired Armstrong not for cause but because she had lost confidence in him. An independent investigation found that he failed to discipline a police sergeant for a hit-and-run accident in 2021, and that a year later, that same officer fired his gun in a Police Department elevator and destroyed the evidence.

The Registrar of Voters must certify the election results by Dec. 5, after which the City Council will declare the results in its next regular meeting, on Dec. 17.  Thao would then have to leave office immediately. As the City Council president, Bas would become acting mayor until a new mayor is chosen in a special election to be held within 120 days. 

“My priority and commitment is caring for Oakland in a time of transition,” Bas said in her statement. “My duty is to ensure a transparent, responsible and orderly transition of leadership that is beyond reproach.”

However, there are scenarios that may lead to another acting mayor before a special election is held. Bas is running for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and is currently trailing her District 5 opponent, John Bauters, by 7 points. But if Bas wins that election, she will have to vacate her City Council seat in January and a new president would be elected, raising the possibility that Oakland could see as many as four mayors in a matter of months.

Thao, 39, was elected mayor in 2022 in a close race with fellow council member Loren Taylor. She started her political career as a staff member of at-large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and then served a four-year term on the City Council. In her statement, she thanked Oaklanders for voting for her, saying, “As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American City, it has been the honor of my lifetime.”

Thao said crime dramatically decreased during her tenure. Pointing to a 35% drop in homicides, she said, “For the first time in over a decade, Oakland went over a month without a single murder. Our work literally saved lives.”  

(Top photo of Thao surrounded by reporters on election night, by Inaara Gangji)

Price recall becoming more likely, as latest vote counts show two-thirds want her out