This Q&A is part of a series of interviews with California’s “other” big-city mayors — those who lead communities that are often overshadowed by the state’s power centers like San Francisco and Los Angeles. HAIL MARY: Sheng Thao’s political life is on the Oakland ballot this November. She’s not going down without a fight. Voters will decide next month whether to recall the embattled mayor, a push bankrolled by hundreds of thousands of dollars from investment manager Philip Dreyfuss and endorsed by Oakland’s police union, the local NAACP chapter and a local newspaper . Her detractors argue new leadership is needed to curb public safety issues, reverse a recent string of business closures and address the city’s financial woes. Former NFL star Marshawn Lynch has already hinted he might run in a special election to replace her. But Thao is hoping to turn the tide with a last-minute pitch to voters, arguing that crime is down, foot traffic on city streets is up and Oakland is turning a corner in its fight to revive businesses kneecapped by the pandemic. “I welcome anyone who loves Oakland and who lives in Oakland to run against me in 2026, after I beat this recall,” she told Playbook. “But the truth is, I'm going beast mode for Oakland right now.” Playbook sat down with Thao, who leads a city of approximately 430,000 people, to discuss her approach to its crime and financial problems — and the recall fight. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Do you think Oakland is facing a public safety crisis? We were facing a public safety crisis. Coming into office, crime was on the rise. I know that a lot of the naysayers would say, “Oh, well, crime was only on the rise because you fired then-Chief LeRonne Armstrong.” That is not a fact at all. We inherited the crime rates. Kaiser Permanente helped fund an audit that shows there is a direct correlation between when the cease-fire strategy (a gun violence prevention strategy that targets gangs) was sunsetted by Armstrong back in 2019 [and when] he implemented his Violent Crime Operations Center. Crime started to spike up because this was a reactionary approach. Our ceasefire strategy is a proactive approach. We immediately implemented the cease-fire strategy … Now we're seeing that Oakland is on track to have less than 100 homicides this year. That hasn't happened since 2019. It's not good enough, and we're going to continue to move on this. But this is our first year of reimplementing the strategy to its full fidelity, and we're already seeing that it is working. A recent San Francisco Chronicle report found that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price’s office missed filing deadlines for about 1,000 misdemeanor cases. Can your crime-reduction policies succeed if she continues as district attorney? I haven't read that article. What I can tell you is every single government entity and arm needs to be in play in order for this all to work. If one arm isn't working, then the whole system is not going to work. In Oakland, officers and myself, we are frustrated. A lot of the people we apprehend who are very dangerous — and we have evidence to show they're dangerous — come right out of Santa Rita jail within three days, within two days. Do you think that California should make any reforms to its recall process for local officials? There's so much reform that should happen … Referencing the recall that I'm going through right now: You have a person who doesn't even live in the city who spent over $600,000 to gather 25,000 signatures. The people who are gathering signatures live outside of the city, live outside of the state. I believe that those who are gathering signatures should be the ones that are living in that city. They shouldn't be able to recruit people from Florida, a more red state, to come out here and express their opinions around what we in Oakland are doing or not doing. (Editor’s note: Thao's campaign was unable to provide direct evidence that Florida residents collected recall signatures in Oakland.) How will you regain trust with the community groups that have supported your recall, should you remain in office? I am the mayor for everyone. I've always asked them to come to the table. I've reached out to the folks that are running the recall, but they refused to meet with me. I stand by all the decisions that I've made. I'm not here to just represent one group of people or one person, nor myself. I'm here to make sure that the city is working for the majority of the people in Oakland. Read Tyler’s full interview with Thao here. IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@politico.com.
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