Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Monday conceded defeat in the recall election that has removed her from office.
Thirteen days after the Nov. 5 contest — which she is currently losing by a vote of about 63% to 37% in unofficial tallies — Price said she was proud and honored to have served as the county’s top law enforcement official.
“I thank you for the honor of serving you as your district attorney and I applaud you for going to the polls in 2022 and believing in the possibility of reforming the criminal justice system after 100 years here in Alameda County,” Price said during a news conference in downtown Oakland.
She didn’t say what her plans are now that she’s leaving office and didn’t take any questions from reporters.
During the somewhat somber event, Price took the opportunity to remind people that her commitment to criminal justice reform guided her approach to the office.
She listed several programs and accomplishments of which she is most proud, including increasing the number of victim advocates by 38% and making strides to hire a more diverse staff, including Mandarin and Cantonese speakers.
She said she created the new Consumer, Environmental, and Special Prosecution Unit that brought in over $20 million in settlements and judgments in 2023, which she said was five times more than previous administrations.
She also mentioned several high-profile cases, including that of the toddler Jasper Wu, who was caught in a crossfire between rival gang members and killed while riding in a car on Interstate 580 with his family in 2023.
“The two defendants we believe responsible for the toddler’s death are in jail charged with murder with enhancements,” Price said. “One faces 265 years to life, the other faces 175 years to life.”
Price’s professional demise was sealed by recall groups spending more than $2.5 million in a campaign to blame her for crime and hammer home the notion that she was soft on criminals.
She came into office in 2023, winning her election with roughly 53% of the vote and becoming the first African American woman to hold the county’s top prosecutor job.
At the time, she was clear about her reform-minded policies, including not tacking on enhancements to charges in order to win longer prison terms in criminal cases, not charging juveniles as adults and finding alternatives to prison or jail for certain defendants, among other things.
Soon after she took office opponents launched a petition drive and ultimately gathered enough signatures to place her name on a recall ballot, alleging that her progressive reform platform was too soft on criminals and led to increasing crime — making her the first district attorney in the county’s history to face a recall.
