30 Facts About Sheng Thao

Sheng Thao is an American politician who served as the 51st mayor of Oakland, California from 2023 to 2024.

Sheng Thao was elected as mayor of Oakland in November 2022 and started her term in January 2023.

Sheng Thao's administration faced a series of challenges, including public safety, business departures and budget deficits.

In January 2025, Sheng Thao was criminally indicted by a grand jury on federal bribery charges.

Sheng Thao was born on July 18,1985, and raised in Stockton, California.

Sheng Thao's parents were refugees from Laos who escaped from the Hmong genocide and eventually immigrated to the United States.

Sheng Thao was the seventh of ten children and grew up in poverty, spending some of her childhood in public housing.

At age 17, Sheng Thao moved out of her home and began working at a Walgreens store in Richmond.

Sheng 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.

When her son was ten months old, Sheng Thao began attending Merritt College in Oakland while raising her son as a single mother and working as a research assistant.

Sheng Thao later worked for Kaplan at the Oakland City Council, becoming her chief of staff in 2017.

Sheng Thao decided to run for office in 2018, when the election for the district 4 City Council seat was an open race, lacking an incumbent.

Sheng Thao ran on the priorities of tackling Oakland's housing crisis, improving public safety with better response systems and community policing, and building public infrastructure such as libraries and parks.

Sheng Thao began her term as a member of the Oakland City Council in January 2019.

Sheng Thao served in the Oakland City Council's 4th district seat, representing the neighborhoods of Montclair, Laurel, Melrose, Redwood Heights, and the Dimond District.

Sheng Thao 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 November 10,2021, Sheng 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.

Sheng Thao's campaign received support from labor unions, the Alameda County Democratic Party, and Ro Khanna, the US representative for the 17th congressional district of California.

Sheng 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 Sheng Thao had Oakland City Council staff work on her campaign in a possible violation of state election laws.

Sheng Thao denied the allegations and the ethics commission opened an investigation in June 2022.

On November 18,2022, Sheng Thao won the election by 677 votes through a ranked-choice voting system.

Sheng Thao fired Armstrong on February 15,2023, and indicated she had lost confidence in his ability to reform the police department.

In March 2024, Sheng Thao appointed Floyd Mitchell as the new police chief.

Sheng Thao's administration faced criticism from community leaders after missing a deadline to apply for the Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program.

In September 2023, Sheng Thao announced $2.5 million in more funding for the 911 response system.

For several months, Sheng Thao's administration continued negotiations with the owners of the Oakland Athletics for the team to stay in Oakland, which had begun during the administration of Sheng Thao's predecessor, Libby Schaaf.

In May 2023, Sheng Thao proposed a two-year $4.2 billion budget with city department mergers and hiring freezes proposed to help account for a $360 million budget deficit.

In January 2025, Sheng Thao was indicted by a federal grand jury on federal bribery charges.

Sheng Thao met Jones during her internship with Oakland city Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan; Jones was Kaplan's chief of staff.