Oakland, California, holds a special place in America’s progressive pantheon; Black PanthersHome of labor organizing and the tenants’ rights movement, it’s Berkeley’s larger, edgier neighbor; So what happens in this city has ramifications far beyond the Bay Area.

And what happened here last week was huge. Voters in Oakland recall their mayor Sheng Taoand district attorney Pamela Price (who represented Alameda County, where Oakland is by far the largest city). Both lost about 30 percentage points; This was an astonishing difference. The city that Vice President Kamala Harris calls home.

Under California law, voters will elect a new mayor and a new district attorney in upcoming special elections (until then, both positions will be held by temporary appointees). All indications are that they will proceed in the right way just like voters across the country Making Donald Trump the first GOP presidential candidate to win the popular vote in two decades.

But Oakland is not rural Michigan or suburban Philadelphia; These signs shouldn’t be here. When it comes to the presidential election, Alameda County voted exactly as you’d expect, Harris received 73% of the vote (He underperformed Biden, Those who netted 80% in 2020but that’s another story).

But voters who strongly rejected Trump also rejected two progressive black women who would likely serve as bulwarks against Trumpist politics.

What did he give? So where to start?

I guess with the recent FBI raid on Tao’s house. HE accused of corruption and he might soon be on the journey from City Hall to federal prison—he wouldn’t be the first American politician to take that path, but people had higher hopes for the first Hmong woman Being elected to an important political office in the United States

Tao dashed these hopes almost immediately. Early in his term, he Police Chief LeRonne fires Armstrongreportedly for not being tough enough on cops accused of misconduct. It took months to hire a new chief, which many saw as an inexcusable delay. Then Tao somehow missed the deadline to apply for $15 million in government aid. to combat retail theft — this at a time when property crime is skyrocketing in Oakland, even as it is starting to peak in many other major cities.

The recall effort, which began in earnest earlier this year, was led by retired Black judge Brenda Harbin-Forte and supported by many other members of Oakland’s strong Black community. “Look at the potholes. Look at the homelessness. Look at the jobs. Look at the businesses leaving Oakland and I’m as angry as two ‘HE hockey sticks’.” The pastor of a Baptist church said:.

Pamela Price He also wrote history. As the first Black woman elected as Alameda County’s chief law enforcement officer. Educated at Yale and Berkeley Law School, he ran a local civil rights and employment law firm. And like Tao, he showed that while representation is important, it cannot compensate for competence.

Crime concerns were still high when Price took office in early 2023, but he took office with a classic misreading of the chamber. new and lighter sentencing guidelines are publishedespecially for young offenders. To be fair, this was a campaign promise, but a more deliberate move would have been to address critics’ concerns before acting on fans’ wishes.

Then came the murder of Jasper Wu, the little boy who was tragically caught in the gangs’ crossfire. Oaklanders — especially members of the large Asian American community — were stunned to learn Price intended to seek “non-custodial forms of accountability” For three men accused of murder. This announcement came in an email Price sent to “Chinese communities.” He appears to have a level of compassion appropriate for a senior post in the Trump administration.

Aware of the growing anger of Asian American Oaklanders, including Chinatown small business owners fed up with the incessant thefts, Price decided to hold a ceremony announcing his “Chinese name.” Yes really. The best thing that can be said about this incident is this: canceled.

Oakland is blessed with astonishing natural beauty (the bay, the rolling hills), a rich heritage of Black culture, world-class restaurants, numerous breweries, and pretty good pizza for the West Coast. But its population Declining steadily since 2020. The city was left without a professional sports team with the departures of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders (to Las Vegas), the NBA’s Golden State Warriors (to San Francisco) and the MLB’s Oakland A’s (also to Vegas). . .

You can’t blame Tao and Price for the greedy franchise owners’ decisions, but you can blame them for doing nothing to instill confidence in how Oakland is run. As the recalls gained steam, they became belligerent, one playing off the other, even though a wiser politician would have been conciliatory.

“Until we address the primary predator (white supremacy that creates criminality), we will always have secondary predators because their primary needs are not met,” said Carroll Fife, a local activist who supports the “defund the police” movement. Announced in 2021. Fife’s sentiments were not shared by many of the recall supporters, local Black elders who watched their community struggle toward the middle class. They would not willingly squander these gains for the sake of appeasing progressive ideology.

In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and other cities, progressive mayors, legislators and prosecutors have faced similar rebukes or fatal declines in public support. Many promised transformative change, but remained stuck in the realities of governance that never resigned themselves to ideological rigidity. And cities suffered as a result.

Americans travel to Washington from what we coastal elites call “flyover country” and see an empty downtown, shuttered storefronts, and security guards outside both drugstore chains and high-end retail stores. They see San Francisco’s homeless encampments south of Market Street; They get uneasy when someone yells and brags on the Times Square subway platform. Can you blame them for thinking: “This What does democratic governance look like?”

Embers It was better in cities He’s in better shape this time than in his previous two runs for president. gained ground new York and Washington, where support is growing came from the area’s historically Black wards. Alarms should be ringing at Democratic Party headquarters. If the Democrats can’t get the cities in order, I have a feeling the Republicans will happily do the job.