Embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price will almost certainly be out of a job by dawn.
Neither progressive will last even two years, as early recounts of recall votes have them down by about 30 percent each, with about a third of the votes counted.
Thao faces a huge defeat after two years of failing to address the city’s mounting debt and worst crime rates in two decades.
He came to power in 2022 with just 50.3 percent of the vote, but at 12:30 on election night 64.6 percent of voters now want him gone.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao (pictured on Election Day) faces a huge defeat after two years of failing to address the city’s mounting debt and worst crime rates in two decades.
Oakland is spending about $100 million a year more than it collects in revenue, a situation that has shown no signs of improving.
For as long as we can remember, the city has been plagued by crime, but reports have increased dramatically since the pandemic and are only slowly decreasing.
If the results, which are expected to be somewhat stricter, hold, Thao would be the first Oakland mayor to be recalled in the city’s history.
Thao barely addressed vote counting when asked about it at his event in Oakland, instead mentioning select statistics.
“Zero homicides in seven weeks, something that hasn’t been heard of for decades… the most streets are being paved this year, and not only that, but we are cleaning our streets,” he said.
“We are very proud of the work we have done, no matter what.”
Thao also insisted the budget deficit was “inherited” and blamed Covid.
He claimed that the impeachment attempt was orchestrated by a “millionaire, who doesn’t even live here, who was about to collect signatures and publish false data.”
“But I know Oaklanders will be able to see this and vote to make sure we’re in office,” he continued.
“I don’t regret all the important decisions I’ve made.”
Pamela Price, district attorney of Alameda County, whose jurisdiction includes Oakland, is also happy, with 64.8 percent voting in favor of her removal.
Price, the Alameda County district attorney whose jurisdiction includes Oakland, is also happy with the 64.8 percent of votes in favor of her removal.
She is the first Black woman to serve as county district attorney, a reform candidate elected with 53 percent of the vote endorsed by Black Lives Matter.
His agenda included rehabilitation over punishment, reducing the prison population and cracking down on heavy-handed policing, but he is already unpopular.
Barring a dramatic return, she will be the first Alameda County prosecutor to be removed from office.
Price’s likely defeat followed that of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, also elected as part of the same wave of reform demands.
He has lost 38 to 62 percent in his reelection bid to former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nathan Hochman.
Price was attacked by conservative opponents for being too soft on crime in her attempt to reduce mass incarceration by seeking shorter sentences.
Crime rose last year in California and much of the United States, and fell again this year in Alameda County, but it’s probably too late to save it.
Criticism of Thao was much broader, including his disastrous failure to prevent the city’s finances from skyrocketing.
One of the main reasons for the 2023 budget shortfall was a $50 million drop in the real estate transfer tax, a percentage tax on property sales.
This is volatile at best, but is further hampered by the perception that Oakland is crime-ridden and in decline, so no one wants to move there.
Instead of using any kind of precaution, Thao assumed that tax revenue would recover, but of course it didn’t, and the city is even deeper in debt.