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Oakland mayor, Alameda County DA facing recall vote

By
Updated  November 6, 2024 5:39am PST
2024 Election
KTVU FOX 2

Oakland mayor and Alameda County DA face recall vote

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County DA Pamela Price are facing recall elections.

The Brief

    • Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price facing recall votes.
    • Critics say they are not doing enough to tackle crime.
    • Both are progressives who say they are being unfairly targeted.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County DA Pamela Price, the targets of recalls, will soon learn whether they'll keep their jobs. 

As of Wednesday morning, early returns showed that voters favored the recall efforts with 65% of the vote. Election officials haven't said exactly how long it would take to determine the final results. 

Thao has touted a sharp drop in homicides and a successful reboot of the "Ceasefire" anti-violence program as some of the reasons why the city is on the right track and why she shouldn't be removed from office.

But critics say Thao is to blame for business closures, sports teams leaving - and the perception that crime is spiraling out of control. They say she should not have fired Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong or sold the city's share of the Coliseum.

Detractors also say the FBI raid of her home has also cast a cloud of suspicion over her administration. She has not been charged with a crime.

Price was elected on a platform of reforming the criminal justice system and holding police officers accountable for misconduct.

While in office, she has made clear she will not automatically charge special circumstances or the most severe gun enhancements like her predecessors. She says she's uncovered evidence that prosecutors in former administrations intentionally excluded Jewish and Black jurors from death-penalty cases. 

But critics say Price has gone too far, allowing criminals to get soft sentences while at the same ignoring the wishes of crime victims. Her policies have prompted many prosecutors to join other DA's offices, including a longtime veteran whom she had charged with a crime until the case was dismissed.

"There needs to be a change," said Sgt. Huy Nguyen, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association. "I think that we have swung so far left, the meter, that we need to make sure that at some point there's gotta be some reasonableness to make sure that we can sustain these challenges."

Civil-rights attorney Walter Riley is a staunch supporter of both Thao and Price.

"There are forces, builders, Realtors who are opposed to progress in Oakland," Riley said. "They are campaigning to recall every progressive on the ballot. They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against everybody that I support. And I don't see that there is a basis for recalling Sheng Thao nor Pam Price.

If Price is recalled, the Board of Supervisors would appoint her successor, who would serve until the next election. 

If Thao is recalled, that's a little more complicated. The city council president would serve as interim mayor. But council president Nikki Fortunato Bas is running for Alameda County supervisor, so someone else might fill in until there's a special election.

Henry Lee is a KTVU reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan