Alameda County DA Pamela Price concedes after recall passes
OAKLAND, Calif. - Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price conceded Monday after an overwhelming majority of voters supported her ousting.
"The voters have spoken, and while the outcome is not what we hoped for, I respect their decision," Price said in an email to her supporters. "In November 2022, Alameda County took a huge step forward toward a better criminal-legal system. Since taking office in January 2023, I fought to bring change to a broken system."
Despite her Friday email stating she would not concede until all votes were counted, the county's election website reported Monday that all votes had been tallied, with 63% supporting the recall of Price.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors must wait until after the election results are certified by Dec. 5 before considering candidates for interim district attorney.
The interim district attorney would serve until at least the June 2026 election.
In the meantime, Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts will run the office until an interim district attorney is selected.
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Alameda County supervisors face critical decision on interim DA after Price recall
With Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on her way out after being ousted in a recall election, county supervisors must select an interim replacement before a successor is chosen by voters in the 2026 election.
In 2022, Price won on a post-George Floyd platform, promising not to overcharge or overcriminalize defendants, especially Black and brown youth.
But the political tides have changed since then, as evidenced by voters approving Proposition 36, which increases penalties for theft and drug trafficking, and becoming more Republican in California counties that flipped from blue to red this election.
Price's interoffice tensions and interpersonal conflicts didn't help, either.
A group named SAFE, which stands for Save Alameda for Everyone, organized the recall, arguing that Price – a former civil rights attorney – didn’t prosecute defendants with harsh enough charges, and therefore made the community unsafe.
Price did have supporters though.
An opposing group, called Protect the Win for Public Safety, and the ACLU of Northern California, fought the recall, countering that blaming Price "for crime problems that have been decades in the making is blatantly dishonest."
And they noted that in 2023, Price had indeed charged about 60 murder cases during her tenure.
This was the first recall of a district attorney in Alameda County history, although Price is the second high-profile Bay Area district attorney to be recalled in the last two years.
In June 2022, 55% of voters supported the recall of progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.