Given the timing of her election, Sheng Thao is assured of being a TTO mayor. Either she will be the mayor when the Oakland A’s finally get a new stadium, or she will be the mayor who loses the Oakland A’s to another city, or she will be the mayor who presides over yet 4 more years of stadium limbo.
For most of this horse race, Libby Schaaf endorsed candidate Loren Taylor had the lead and was presumed to be Oakland’s next mayor. Then at the 11th hour, Thao took the lead and kept it. So let’s take a non-partisan look at Thao and how Oakland’s voters may — or may not— have impacted the A’s quest for a stadium at Howard Terminal.