Sheng Thao

Sheng Thao (RPA: Seeb Thoj, Pahawh: ; born 1985) is an American politician who served as the 51st mayor of Oakland, California from 2023 to 2024. She was the first Hmong American mayor of a major city in the United States. She was elected as mayor of Oakland in November 2022 and started her term in January 2023. On November 5, 2024, Thao was recalled.

During her tenure as mayor, Thao pledged to focus on crime, homelessness, and affordable housing. In June 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Thao's home as part of an ongoing investigation,

Early life and education Thao was born on July 17, 1985, and raised in Stockton, California. Her parents were refugees from Laos who escaped from the Hmong genocide and eventually immigrated to the United States.

At age 17, Thao moved out of her home and began working at a Walgreens store in Richmond. Thao left the relationship when she was six months pregnant, and then lived in her car and couch-surfed before and after her son was born. Thao defeated six other candidates and won with 54% of the vote.

Thao began her term as a member of the Oakland City Council in January 2019. Thao served in the Oakland City Council's 4th district seat, representing the neighborhoods of Montclair, Laurel, Melrose, Redwood Heights, and the Dimond District. She was the first Hmong woman to be elected as a member of a city council in the state of California and the first Hmong person elected to the Oakland City Council. On the city council, Thao served as president pro tempore.

Mayor of Oakland Thao took office on January 9, 2023. As mayor-elect, her proposals included the development of 30,000 units of new housing over eight years, rent control and other protections for tenants, improving safety and sanitation for homeless residents, hiring more police officers, and increasing spending for education and violence prevention programs.

Campaign

On November 10, 2021, Thao announced her candidacy for Oakland mayor and the endorsements of council president Nikki Fortunato Bas, vice mayor Rebecca Kaplan, and Attorney General Rob Bonta. Her campaign also received support from labor unions, the Alameda County Democratic Party, and Ro Khanna, the U.S. representative for the 17th congressional district of California. Oakland City Council member Loren Taylor, one of her opponents, was endorsed by Libby Schaaf, the incumbent mayor of Oakland, as well as London Breed and Sam Liccardo, the mayors of nearby San Francisco and San Jose. By the end of the campaign, Thao and Taylor were considered to be the two front-runners.

Thao, relating her own experiences, including childhood poverty, domestic violence, and renting, campaigned for increasing the funding of the Department of Violence Prevention in Oakland to improve access to affordable housing and reduce homelessness.

In June 2022, a former staffer filed an informal verbal complaint with the Public Ethics Commission that alleged Thao had Oakland City Council staff work on her campaign in a possible violation of state election laws. The staffer claims to have been fired after refusing to work on Thao's campaign. Thao denied the allegations and the ethics commission opened an investigation in June 2022. Thao stated she supported the recount.

Public safety After a law firm hired during the previous year by the City of Oakland produced an investigative report which was officially published on January 18, 2023, alleging misconduct in the Oakland police department, Thao placed Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong on administrative leave on January 19. During a press conference on January 21, Thao said "it's important that we look at taking the corrective action that is needed to make sure that we stay on track to make sure that we get out of the federal oversight," referring to the oversight the police department had been subject to for the past twenty years. Armstrong filed a wrongful terminational lawsuit against the city of Oakland and Thao. In March 2024, Thao appointed Floyd Mitchell as the new police chief.

Thao's administration faced criticism from community leaders after missing a deadline to apply for the Organized Retail Theft Prevention (ORTP) Grant Program. The grant awards cities millions of dollars to fight retail crime through allocating funds "to hire more officers, create task forces and develop investigative units." An audit released in May 2024 conducted by the acting City Auditor of Oakland found that, "there was poor communication, within departments and between departments, there was no project management and no one really took charge." The City of Oakland prepared, but "did not successfully submit an application for the ORTP (Organized Retail Theft Prevention) grant." In her State of the City address on October 17, 2023, Thao discussed crime and public safety, including efforts to improve the 911 system, obtain new California Highway Patrol officers, and hire a person responsible for applying to grants. The Oakland Police Department's crime report for April of 2024 noted "33 percent fewer violent crimes overall this year compared to last year."

In July 2024, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, urged Oakland to allow more police pursuits. Currently, Oakland only allows police pursuits when a suspect is armed with a gun or involved in a forcible violent crime, a policy that has been in place since 2014. Newsom has described this policy as an "outlier."

Business closures During Thao's tenure, several Oakland businesses closed due to safety concerns. In-N-Out, Denny's, Starbucks, Black Bear Diner, and Subway cited safety concerns for their employees and customers as the reasons for the closures. Other businesses, Raising Canes and Taco Bell, shut down dining rooms to reduce the risk of crime. Kaiser Permanente, Clorox, and Blue Shield increased security and warned employees about crime in the area. Thao's office provided statistics that showed a decline in some areas of crime in the Hegenberger Road corridor where In-N-Out was located. On April 20, Thao indicated she was open to continuing negotiations despite the announcement by the team. John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, rejected the City of Oakland’s "offer for a five-year, $97 million lease extension on the Coliseum" and a revised, "final three-year, $60 million lease," ultimately relocating the team to Las Vegas.

Thao announced on May 22, 2024, that the City of Oakland would sell its share of the Coliseum (the former home of the Oakland A's) to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG) for $105 million. The money from the sale was expected to "help fill shortfalls in the city's budget" and city officials said the sale would pave "the way for a proposed sports and entertainment destination site, thousands of new affordable housing units, and community benefits for historically neglected East Oakland." A $4.2 billion budget was passed by the city council in June 2023 to address the deficit with some department mergers, hiring freezes to prevent layoffs, and spending cuts.

In 2024, Oakland faced a $117 million deficit. Thao and Oakland's city council approved budget changes that "will avoid drastic cuts but also rely on the still-pending sale of the city’s most valuable real estate property." The pending sale of the Coliseum is "estimated to bring in $105 million." Financial analysts warned city officials against relying on sales of assets to "remedy short-term budget shortfalls." Alameda County's elections office estimated that the whole batch would exceed 110% of the necessary threshold, or enough to trigger a recall election outright without a full manual count of signatures.

A small group of protestors rallied outside of Oakland City Hall calling for Thao to address a Juneteenth celebration mass shooting at Lake Merritt that wounded 15 people and the FBI raid at her home. The group supported the recall election and demanded Thao's resignation.

She was successfully recalled on November 5, 2024. 60.62% voted in favor of the recall and 39.38% voted against it. Three other residences and properties were also raided on the same day. On July 8, 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office subpoenaed the city of Oakland for documents and records.

In January 2025, Thao was indicted by a federal grand jury on federal bribery charges. The charges allege a pay-to-play scheme in which $75,000 was paid to Thao in the form of negative advertisements against her opponents in the 2022 mayoral race as well as $95,000 to Thao's partner for "no-show" jobs, in exchange for the city of Oakland renewing its recycling contract with Cal Waste Solutions and purchasing housing with the paying companies. Cal Waste Solutions has had a number of legal troubles prior to the bribery charges, including fines from the state for violating beverage container redemption laws and a lawsuit alleging that the company overcharged Oakland residents for recycling services between 2010 and 2021. After she pled not guilty, Thao's trial is expected to start in October 2026.

Personal life As of 2024, Sheng Thao was living with her partner, Andre Jones, and their two children in a 4-bedroom home on Maiden Lane in Oakland's Lincoln Highlands neighborhood. She met Jones during her internship with Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan when he was Kaplan's chief of staff. Jones was also arrested and indicted by the Department of Justice for bribery in 2025.