Voters in Oakland, California, are poised to recall left-wing Mayor Sheng Thao, who has faced criticisms for her radical policies and is implicated in a federal corruption probe.
Oakland voters already appear to have recalled District Attorney Pamela Price, who had been backed by left-wing billionaire Democratic Party donor George Soros.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
Preliminary returns showed 65% of voters supporting Thao’s recall while 35% opposed it. The percentages are nearly identical for and against recalling Price. If both Thao and Price are recalled, they would be the first mayor and district attorney in city and county history to be removed from office before their terms end. Both were elected in 2022.
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In Thao’s case, the city could see multiple mayors in the span of a year. Thao would have to leave office immediately once the election results were certified and the office declared vacant by the City Council, according to the city charter. The registrar must certify the results within 30 days of the election, which would be Dec. 5. The City Council would then declare the office vacant at its next meeting on Dec. 17.
The City Council president would then become the interim mayor until a special election is held in 120 days.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this year, Thao’s home was raided by the FBI. She had also fired Oakland Police Department Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who is black, after he criticized the city council’s “defund the police” policies.
Thao and her attorneys urged the FBI to tell the public that she was not a target of the investigation, to no avail.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.