The strange case of the 2022 Oakland mayor’s race

The strange case of the 2022 Oakland mayor’s race

By Lynda Carson - January 26, 2023

Oakland - Reportedly, on November 22, 2022, Loren Taylor concedes his loss in the Oakland mayor race to Sheng Thao, but denounces the rank choice voting system used in Oakland.

In a narrow victory, on December 8, 2022, former Council Member, Sheng Thao, was officially certified as the new mayor of Oakland, after winning by a narrow margin over former Council Member, Loren Taylor.

In the hotly contested race, oddly among the list of campaign contributors to Sheng Thao, the list included Loren Taylor, who apparently was betting against himself in the mayoral race, with a $100.00 campaign contribution to Sheng Thao. Go figure?

Other campaign contributors to Sheng Thao included the famed actress Jane Fonda with an $1,800.00 campaign contribution, former Council Member Nancy Nadel, some local tenants right’s attorney's and activists including Anne Omura of the Eviction Defense Center, and Marc Janowitz of the East Bay Community Law Center, plus plenty of union action, community organizers, and other campaign contributors.

Of note, the Nate Miley for supervisor campaign also made a $250.00 campaign contribution to Sheng Thao, in opposition to Loren Taylor.

Indeed, this was the same Nate Miley, president of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors who reportedly later voted along with Keith Carson and the other Alameda County Board of Supervisors, to have an election recount of the Oakland mayor’s race, and the District 4 School Board seat, after being pressured by the local Oakland NAACP to have an election recount.

Reportedly, the 1051 Oakland Branch NAACP is an organization https://oaklandnaacp.org/ under the parent exemption from the NAACP Empowerment Programs Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/national-association-for-the-advancement-of-colore,131084135/ , and reportedly, the Oakland Branch NAACP refused to pay the $21,000 costs per day for an election recount to occur.

In contrast to the local Oakland NAACP, an affiliate of NAACP Empowerment, and their refusal to pay for an election recount that they demanded, according to public records in 2020, after subtracting their liabilities from their assets, NAACP Empowerment Programs Inc., had net assets or a fund balance of $50,719,056.

Additionally, on January 5, 2023, Supervisor Keith Carson, who reportedly during March of 2021, had some of his own campaign problems that required him to pay a $4,000.00 fee or fine, sent a notice to the other Board of Supervisors in Alameda County, requesting an election recount for the Oakland mayor, and and the District 4 School Board seat.


This occurred after Sheng Thao has been certified as the new Oakland mayor. Now the voters of Oakland do not know how the strange case of the 2022 Oakland mayor’s race is going to affect the rank choice voting system used by Oakland voters for the past ten years, or the fate of Tim Dupuis, the Alameda County Registrar, who reportedly has screwed up a few times in recent years.

Apparently, the Alameda County Register of Voters office will get stuck with paying the costs of the recount since it is being requested by elected members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, after they were facing pressure from the Oakland NAACP.

Indeed. When considering that Loren Taylor has already conceded to Sheng Thao that he lost his bid to be mayor of Oakland, and when considering that Sheng Thao has already been certified as the new mayor of Oakland, one has to wonder why an election recount is taking place that may result in a quagmire of court ruling shenanigans that may go against the will of the voters in Oakland who voted Sheng Thao into office as the mayor of Oakland.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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