'It's About Bringing People Together': Oakland Mayor-Elect Sheng Thao on Her Vision for The Town

Progressive Oakland City Councilmember Sheng Thao is gearing up to take the reins as the city's next mayor, after defeating more moderate fellow Councilmember Loren Taylor by the narrowest of margins last month in the drawn-out, ranked choice voting tally.

At 37, Thao will not only be one of Oakland's youngest mayors, but also the first Hmong American to lead the city, when she replaces current Mayor Libby Schaaf in January. The UC Berkeley graduate was first elected in 2018 to represent District 4 on the Council (including parts of East Oakland, Montclair and the Oakland hills), and has since become its president pro tempore.

Born and raised in Stockton, Thao is the daughter of Laotian refugees and the seventh of 10 children. The family lived for years in public housing. She left home at a young age and for a brief period was unhoused, sleeping in her car with her infant son to escape an abusive relationship.

As Oakland's next mayor, Thao faces a myriad of challenges, including the city's homelessness crisis, the need to build significantly more affordable housing, and mounting crime. Last week, KQED Political Breakdown's Marisa Lagos and Scott Shafer sat down in the studio with the mayor-elect to talk about her life story, her vision for Oakland and how she plans to hit the ground running next month.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

So we want to talk about all your plans for Oakland, but we would like to start with your very compelling life story. Your parents left Laos as refugees. Tell us a little bit about before they came here and had 10 kids. What was their journey like to America?

So my parents, it wasn't a fairy tale love story or anything like that. It was during the Vietnam War. The Hmong people live in the jungles and in the hills of Laos mainly, but also you can also find people in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam and China as well. But because of that, the Hmong people had to choose between joining forces with American CIA or joining forces with the communists and Vietcong. And then not just that, but the Laos as well, too.

And so many of the Hmong actually chose to be part of the CIA. And because of that, they helped a lot in regards to navigating the jungles for the Americans and not just that, but really helping with those who were hurt on the ground. And my parents fled. I heard a lot of stories about how families fled. And when you had an infant or a small younger child, they fed them little pieces of opium so they would go to sleep so they wouldn't be loud. Sometimes babies never woke up. Sometimes their parents refused to leave their kids or give kids opium, and so they stayed behind. No one knows what happened to them.

Oftentimes we hear about refugees coming to this country, whether it's Vietnam or Cuba. And it really affects the way they look at the world and politics. And I'm wondering, how did that affect your worldview as a kid based on what your parents told you?

I remember the day that my dad became a citizen and he was able to vote and he was just so excited, excited to vote and be part of the political world here in the United States. And so politics is important to the Hmong community. It's about activation. They do believe in making sure that their voices are heard. But for me, how that shaped me is that we have our own politics within the Hmong clans as well.

We have 18 clans. And so my dad, being a leader in our clan, really shaped how I view American politics. And the view was always around building community. If you build on community, then that's how you keep yourself safer. And not just that, but that's how you understand what resources are needed so that you can deliver on your promises. And so that's kind of the leadership that I lead with right now.

What made you decide to run? Was there a moment or did somebody encourage you?

So when I ran for my City Council seat, it was a lot of community who really pushed me to really run for that seat. And I'll be very honest with you, my response was, 'Well, I don't come from money and I don't look like how politicians look, and I don't talk like them.' But it took the community to really allow me to see that's why I was needed. And that they would help and support. And then I threw my name in the hat, saying, like, 'OK, well, if you're willing to support me and if you feel like I can be best fit in this position, then I will try it.'

And now I have grown into this politician role, and it's not about a look at all. The problem was that we didn't have enough people with my life experience that look like me or that have you in these positions. And it's important to make sure that we have that diversity.

You were really seen as the progressive candidate in this race. You got a lot of labor support. What does that title mean to you, and what do you think it means to the people who supported you as you enter this office?

Yeah, I am a progressive. And I think that over many years, somehow being a progressive has been kind of looked down on just because of what people are ascribing to it. But I am a progressive in the sense that I want to move the city forward for working families. I do believe that if we support those who are on the margins, then we all can have a better quality of life. So lifting from the bottom up.

What does that mean in terms of policies?

So what did that mean in regards to policy is renter protections. So I'm a strong advocate of passing strong renter protections and ensuring that renters can have access and pathways to homeownership. We know that's intergenerational wealth. So it's taking down some of those barriers. What that also looks like is making sure our school system is accessible and that they're doing their part in regards to delivering what our students need.

And so it's really about looking at those who are most on the margins to see what resources they need and then making sure that you are delivering those resources. I see all of this as the ecosystem, they're all interconnected. If our kids are safe and kept busy and money in their pockets, then we, for public safety, would be better off for them.

So how do you think about public safety in Oakland and your relationship with police? Will you keep the police chief?

I am going to keep the police chief. Chief LeRonne Armstrong and I have a pretty strong relationship. Even as a council president pro tem, I was able to really champion and author policies that we are seeing that are actually getting us to the numbers that we need to be at. We are funded for 752 officers and for the first time ever, because of the policies that I authored, we're at 700 officers. For me, I think it's a comprehensive approach.

If you talk about public safety, you have to talk about investments directly to communities and investment directly to our youth. I just came out of a meeting where we talked about year-round youth paid jobs. That's also public safety. But the response to me is also incredibly important, being a victim of crime myself, where they broke into my home, saw my son, and they didn't care. They just went forward. It was traumatizing for my son. He's 16 now and he's still traumatized. So the response of feeling like government will respond to things that are traumatic like that is incredibly important to me as well.

You are going to be following Mayor Libby Schaaf, who's leaving. She did not endorse you. What are your thoughts of her mayoralty? What did she do right? What did she do wrong? And most importantly, what will you do differently?

It's a hard question, right? Because until you're in the hot seat, you don't know all the nuances that goes on. And there are a lot of nuances. What I can say that I would be different is around our unhoused community. Being a single mom, I know that I wouldn't feel comfortable if I went to a park and it was full of tents. And so for me, it's like we need to have dignified housing. We need to make sure that we are bringing the services to our own house. And that means opening up our public parcels and getting them off our streets, out of the parks and onto these parcels with pallet shelters and electricity. Bring them the services they need so that we can have a safe space for them.

And then at the same time, we have to build, build, build, right? That's affordable housing, deeply affordable housing, social housing, workforce housing and moderate rate housing. And so I'm a champion right now as a legislator for the safety, which is a way that we would be able to fund.

I know you and most of the council are committed to keeping the A's in Oakland, that you want this waterfront ballpark. And you've said you don't want to use public money. Is that a red line? Like, would you consider any general fund money? And what are the financing options if taxpayers don't step up?

Well, right now we have so many grant dollars that have already been secured at the Senate level, Assembly level. And so I am a huge proponent of moving forward with keeping the A's rooted here in Oakland. But again, it is a hard line in regards to taxpayers' dollars.

I will not be OK with using taxpayers' dollars for building out of the stadium. There's going to be grant funding that are already coming in and secured. Hopefully, there will be more secure grant funding in the future. And then not just that, but really, you know, I am hopeful that the A's will come to the table and keep an open mind.

You won this election by [under] 700 votes. There was a lot initially, you were behind. And then with ranked choice voting, you caught up and ultimately went ahead. Does that affect the way you think about reaching out to voters who didn't vote for you or for whom you weren't their second or third choice?

Absolutely. I mean, it shows that the city is divided in regards to how we're facing the different crises that we're going through. But for me, as mayor of the city of Oakland, I represent everyone. And it is going to be my responsibility to reach out to those who may have maybe put me as No. 2, 3 or 4 or 5 or maybe I did a million on their ballot. And I take that very seriously. So I, you know, it's about being in community. It's about relaying to the community what the plans are and how we gain a better, stronger quality of life.

And that's truly what the call to action is. Our streets are the dirtiest it's ever been. Let's clean it up. Our unhoused community is out of control. Let's figure out the root causes for public safety. For me, it's about delivering on the promises that I made in my campaign, which touches on all of these points. And I think through that, I'll be really representing the city of Oakland.