OAKLAND – When Sheng Thao was sworn in as Oakland mayor in January 2023, a series of feel-good stories followed, often featuring glowing portraits of the mayor in front of sunny civic landmarks.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faces a recall on the Nov. 5 ballot

(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)

Oakland’s new mayor was, like noted the New York Timessuddenly the nation’s most prominent Hmong elected official. The Washington Post interviewed Thao about her journey from young homeless mother to city executive. Her choice, The Guardian said, seemed to be it represents a progressive victory in a region where tech billionaires were intent on ripping politicians to the right.

But oh, how the political climate has changed. On Tuesday, Thao faces a recall election funded in large part by a wealthy hedge fund manager who lives just outside Oakland in the small town of Piedmont. Many political observers expect her to lose her seat, despite the fact that she retains the support of some of Oakland’s most powerful elected officials, including Rep. Barbara Lee and state Sen. Nancy Skinner.

Voters in Oakland and Alameda County will also have a say in whether Dist. Atty. Pamela Price, the first black woman to hold the position, is less than two years into a six-year term.

The grievances recall supporters have listed against Thao are numerous and include allegations of fiscal mismanagement and even a failure to keep the Oakland A’s baseball team in the city.

Alameda County Dist. Atty. Pamela Price speaks during a 2023 demonstration at Oakland’s Oscar Grant Plaza about the killing of Tire Nichols by Memphis police.

(Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Thao he said that she “works tirelessly for Oakland’s future” and that she has “addressed rising crime, homelessness and budget challenges head-on.”

The recall against Price, a former civil rights attorney, was launched months after she took office. She had campaigned on a platform that included pledges to reform the justice system, stop the “overcriminalization” of young people and hold law enforcement accountable for wrongdoing.

Critics argued that she mismanaged her office. Price countered that the recall was fundamentally undemocratic and an attempt to subvert the will of the voters. Her campaign spokeswoman Venus Gist said the recall is more than a local issue. “It’s part of a larger national agenda,” she said, also targeting progressive district attorneys in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Still, a central issue in both Bay Area recalls is the perception among many voters that violence and property crime are out of control. Statistics showing that violent crime is on the decline have done nothing to assuage that sentiment.

“Lives have been lost, property destroyed, businesses closed, and collective fear and trauma are daily occurrences for Oaklanders,” Thao’s supporters. stated on their website.

Price’s recall campaign, meanwhile, is campaigning on a message to “Bring safety back to Alameda County.”

A large warning sign outside In-N-Out’s restaurant in Oakland. The fast food chain closed shop due to safety concerns.

(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

The recall attempts of progressive politicians here in the deepest blue heart of California come as voters across the country appear poised to crack down on crime. A UC Berkeley/LA Times poll performed last month found that a solid majority of voters statewide support Proposition 36, which would impose tougher penalties for repeat thefts and crimes involving the deadly drug fentanyl. The initiative, which is opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is estimated to cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually in increased prison spending — but voters don’t seem to care.

Oakland has become a statewide focal point for crime concerns. Just a few years ago, the city was heralded as the next chic, trendy thing, its tree-lined streets filled with new boutiques, lively restaurants and rents so high it sparked a anti-gentrification reaction. These days, areas of the city of 450,000 feel like ground zero for a dystopian version of California. The number of homeless residents has skyrocketed. Restaurants are closing and car break-ins are so common that people complain that thieves sometimes steal worthless items like old rags.

In February, Gov announced he was sending 120 CHP officers to Oakland to try to combat retail theft, which many said had become rampant. “What is happening in this beautiful city and the surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable,” Newsom said.

Many, including a spokesman for Mayor Thao, said things have improved — but not enough for some locals.

“I was having lunch at Lake Merritt not too long ago,” recalled Eric Jaye, a veteran Democratic political consultant based in San Francisco, “and somebody was just walking up and down in broad daylight at lunch, breaking into cars.”

A resident tells an Oakland police officer he was doused with Mace on the city’s International Boulevard.

(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

Indeed, Oakland voters walking the path around the sparkling blue waters of Lake Merritt on a recent sunny afternoon brought up crime as a pressing issue again and again — whether or not they supported the recall to Thao.

Setenay Bozkurt, 51, who was walking her friend and her well-behaved goldendoodle Billie, said she planned to vote No on the recall — but only because she feared the disruption and resulting special election would they will cost the cash-strapped. money from the city he can’t afford to lose. She added that she witnessed numerous car break-ins last winter and spring.

Her walking partner, who would only give her first name, Belinda, said she voted “Yes”. “I don’t like what’s happening in the city,” she said. “Businesses are closing. Crime. People are afraid to go out.”

A few blocks away, UC Berkeley student Ali Momhammed, 22, who grew up in Oakland and still lives there, said he plans to support the walkout.

“I don’t know if you’ve been around here,” he said, gesturing toward the sleepy streets between downtown and Lake Merritt, where many businesses had closed or seemed devoid of customers in what should have been an after -lively afternoon of the week. “But you see what I see?”

The Thao campaign points out — correctly — that the mayor came into office amid a post-pandemic crime wave and that crime rates have begun to fall, helped in part, the Thao campaign said, by programs the mayor has put in place.

Just a few years ago, Oakland was heralded as the next chic, trendy thing, its tree-lined streets filled with new boutiques and lively restaurants. These days, areas of the city of 450,000 feel like ground zero for a dystopian version of California.

(Jane Tyska/Getty Images)

“The whole (recall) campaign is built on a bug that no longer works,” said William Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the anti-recall campaign.

“Things are looking up in Oakland,” he added, noting that “agents of chaos,” including the mayor’s political opponents and a hedge fund executive, are pushing their own agenda for the city.

On Wednesday, the Thao campaign released an “open letter” to the executive, Philip Dreyfuss, accusing him of “trying to buy our city government.” The The San Francisco Chronicle reported, Based on campaign finance reports, Dreyfus has poured more than $1 million into local races, including the recall of Thao and District Attorney Price.

Dreyfuss lives in Piedmont, a small rich enclave of trees and mansions that is surrounded by the city of Oakland. In her letter, Thao accused him of destabilizing the city and trying to “hijack our democracy” not because he cares about public safety, but because he wants the city and its port to be more open to coal projects pushed by the fund its speculative. Faralon Capital.

Dreyfuss did not respond to a request for comment and did not speak to other local media. But a recall campaign spokesman, Seneca Scott, denied that Dreyfuss is advocating a mayoral recall as a backdoor to boost his business interests.

“Why does he care?” Scott said. “He has five children. He has a wife. He has a family. He doesn’t want to move.”

Other issues looming over the race include an FBI investigation that involved a raid on Thao’s home in June, just as recall supporters turned in enough signatures to put the recall measure on the ballot. The residence of an official of a waste company that contracts with the city of Oakland and has made campaign contributions to Thao and other elected officials was raided the same day.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao salutes at a 2023 press conference announcing that the 2025 NBA All-Star Game will be played at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)

Thao said he was told he was not a target. She gave a speech full of tears days after the raid, saying: “I want to be clear. I didn’t do anything wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me.”

She also questioned the FBI’s tactics, saying, “This would not have gone the way it did if I had been rich, if I had gone to elite private schools, or if I had come from money.”

Political experts said the law enforcement raid did not appear to be a big factor in the recall — but the spectacle of the FBI breaking into the mayor’s home certainly didn’t help quell voters’ concerns about crime and mayhem.

“It’s been years, a decade of frustration finally coming out,” said Jim Ross, an Oakland political consultant who works for neither party.

The pair of withdrawals, he added, represents a new trend in California politics — one that could soon be coming to the rest of the state. Just as the Bay Area was early to initiate gay marriage, higher minimum wages and smoking regulations, voters should now expect pushbacks funded by wealthy individuals with big interests in local politics.

In recent years, a group of wealthy San Francisco residents poured money to recall progressive city attorney Chesa Boudin and three school board members. The phenomenon has already been observed elsewhere. In Northern California’s Shasta County in 2022, a wealthy former resident, angry with county officials, helped fund it a recall of one of the county supervisors.

“We live in this world now where a rich guy can fund a recall,” Ross said. “You have billionaires willing to spend massive amounts of money to dictate policy in cities.”