Oakland officially has a new interim mayor in Nikki Fortunato Bas, who takes over from ousted former Mayor Sheng Thao, whose last day in office was Tuesday.
Bas moved from the City Council podium to the mayor’s office after council members voted to accept the results of the Nov. 5 election. a recall that Thao lost by about 21 percentage points.
Bas was appointed interim mayor for the coming weeks due to her role as council president, who is designated in the city charter as the person who fills the mayor’s position in the event of a vacancy.
City of Oakland
The council also stated April 15 as the date of a special election to replace Thao as well as Bas, who is moving to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors after defeating Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters in the election to replace retiring Supervisor Keith Carson.
Because Bas’ council seat is now vacant, the council will swear in the three new incoming council members at its Jan. 6 meeting — replacing outgoing council members Dan Kalb, Rebecca Kaplan and Treva Reid — and vote to appoint someone to fill her position temporarily will take over. place on the stage.
In her final comments as a council member, Bas suggested the council appoint Kaplan to replace her until the April elections.
“As you know, Councilwoman Kaplan is retiring, she is prepared to serve in this interim position, she is a resident of District 2 in Jack London, will not be running for the seat in the special election and I believe she is uniquely qualified to step up and immediately helped serve our District 2 residents, as well as important projects in the future, and of course helped lead the city’s biennial budget process,” Bas said.
Whoever wins the mayoral and District 2 elections in April will only remain in office until the current terms expire on January 4, 2027, meaning both seats will be up for grabs again in the next regular election.
