Where does Oakland stand post-election?

Prelim results, next steps for recalls, future of Empower Oakland

Nov 10, 2024

What a week. After months of campaigning, the election has come and gone. While it was a crushing and disheartening outcome in the presidential election (Alameda County voted >70% Harris), Oaklanders have much to be optimistic about when it comes to the future of local politics.

In decisive fashion, nearly 2 in 3 voters recalled both Mayor Sheng Thao and DA Pamela Price. Oaklanders made it clear they are unhappy with the status quo and will no longer tolerate ineffective government.

What were the results?

Alameda County is one of the slowest counties in the U.S. when it comes to counting ballots.

As of Friday evening, the county registrar has counted less than half of the nearly 700K total ballots cast. This lags the California state average, and is well behind other large counties of 500K+ voters.

While this means results aren’t official — and there’s still potential for movement in some extremely tight races — we have a general direction for the outcome of this election.

Based on most recent data, Empower Oakland’s endorsed candidates are leading in 14 of 21 races! Again, most of these races haven’t been officially called, and the next update is expected Monday, November 11.

A few resources and reading while you wait…

Here’s where each of our endorsements stand as of Friday evening:

What’s next for the recalls?

With decisive outcomes trending for the recalls of Mayor Thao and DA Price, the question is what happens next?

For Oakland mayor, City Council President Nikki Bas — who is currently behind in her bid for Alameda County supervisor — issued a statement last week outlining the process of electing a new mayor and interim leadership after Thao leaves office.

Election results must be certified and final by December 5.
If Thao is recalled, she would leave office at the next city council meeting, December 17.
At said December 17 meeting, the city council president would become interim mayor.
- Notably, the council president is elected by the full city council every two years. If Bas is re-elected to another two-year term as council president, she would serve as interim mayor.
- Or, another council member could run for council president and get elected, and thus become interim mayor.
Assuming Thao leaves office on December 17, the city would hold a special election for mayor within 120 days, which puts us at mid-April 2025.
Whoever wins the special election for mayor would be finishing Thao’s current term, so there would still be another mayoral race for a full four-year term in November 2026.

For district attorney, it’s a little more straightforward. Once election results are certified by December 5, Chief Assistant DA Royl Roberts is expected to be acting DA until the Alameda County Board of Supervisors appoints Price’s replacement.

Price was serving an unusual six-year term that would have ended in 2028, but the newly appointed DA would only be in place until a special election is held in November 2026.

What’s next for Empower Oakland?

In July, we called this election the most consequential election in Oakland’s history because of the number of races at stake and their ability to influence the speed and certainty of Oakland’s comeback.

While we’re proud of the preliminary results in this election, we believe Oakland’s comeback is just beginning. There’s a lot of work to still be done, whether it’s keeping our newly elected leaders accountable, or ensuring competent, effective leaders will have a voice in the future of Oakland politics.

But what we’re most proud of is that we made it easier for Oaklanders to better understand who and what they voted for last week. While top-line endorsements are important, no other voter guide provided in-depth questionnaires and video interviews with all of the candidates.

We didn’t expect everyone to agree with our opinions or recommendations — but we wanted to give folks the opportunity to be better informed. Here’s how we did…

It’s incredible to think all this was born just months ago from a small but mighty group of Oakland residents who believed our city deserved better.

The best stat: $0 spent on paid staff.

While we raised $350K to get the voter guide in the hands of as many Oaklanders as possible, this was entirely a grassroots operation. Our volunteers spent thousands of hours over the past few months — working late nights and in between nap times, all while balancing their families and full-time jobs — to make Empower Oakland happen.

To our 150+ volunteers, and thousands more of you who shared our voter guide, forwarded an email, or told a friend about Empower Oakland: THANK YOU.

As we catch our breath from this election, we’ll be back soon.

In other news…

Wealthy groups fueled by tech elites reshaped S.F. politics. Now it’s happening in Oakland (SF Chronicle)
Newsom extends CHP surge in Oakland to combat crime (SF Chronicle)
Developer misses post-election Coliseum payment but insists deal is still on (Oaklandside)
With Alameda County vote count seemingly lagging, registrar asks public for patience (Local News Matters)
Where Does This Leave Democrats? (The Ezra Klein Show)
Identity politics isn't working (Noahpinion)
Trump Didn't Deserve to Win, But We Deserved to Lose (Very Serious)