Alameda DA Pamela Price is Ready to ‘Protect the Win’ in Upcoming Recall Election
By Magaly Muñoz
Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price and her “Protect the Win” campaign held a press conference Wednesday morning to discuss the consolidation of the recall election with the November general election and her steps moving forward.
“We are here today to appreciate that the Board of Supervisors yesterday did the right thing and decided not to invest $20 million of our hard-earned tax dollars for a failed effort to overturn the November 2022 election,” Price said.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday evening to consolidate the recall election so as to not put themselves in an even larger deficit than they are soon headed into. The board reported that they are almost $68 million in deficit for the county budget, but now with the consolidation, the election will only cost taxpayers about $4 million.
Proponents of the recall had continuously asked the Board to schedule a special election in August, regardless if it would cost upwards of $20 million to fund.
At her press conference, Price emphasized that she is the first non-appointed district attorney in decades and the first Black woman elected for the position.
She characterized the recall efforts against her to be a “platinum roots movement” bankrolled by a handful of super-rich real estate investors and tech executives.
The recall group Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE) raised over $3 million for their campaign against Price, spending a large amount of their funds on paying signature gatherers to collect names to put the election on the ballot. This has created a point of contention with many who are opposing the recall efforts.
Although her campaign has not been able to raise nearly as much money, she assures the community that their efforts are best used for “defending the democracy” and serving the residents of Alameda County.
Price challenged the big donors behind the recall efforts, stating that if they have thousands of dollars to spend on overturning an election, then they can better use their funds to invest in the community, such as donating to Oakland Unified School District, Highland Hospital, homeless and housing services and anti-trafficking efforts.
A few key donors mentioned were Philip Dreyfuss, who donated $600,000; Isaac Abid donated $225,000; Kenneth Lin donated $100,000; and John Wayland donated $135,000.
The DA said she will continue to do her job including advocating for victims, prosecuting people who have committed crimes in the community, combatting retail theft efforts, implementing new technology to protect youth, amongst many other priorities.
The recall proponents have long accused Price of being “soft on crime” and that crime rates have gone up since she’s been in office, but according to Oakland Police data, crime is down 33% since 2023.
When asked about the drop in crime rates on Tuesday, SAFE leaders said they do not follow OPD data because they claim it is not accurate. They only listen to what they hear from the community.
Price refuted the accusations stating that her office does not track or count the type of data that the opposition claims to be following. She says that the recall supporters are spreading misinformation and the data they are referencing only “exists in the figment of their imagination.”
In an annual report that the DA Office released last week, it revealed that Price is prosecuting cases at a similar rate to her predecessor. Former DA Nancy O’Malley was prosecuting anywhere from 60% to 66% of cases in 2019 to 2022, while Price prosecuted 62% of cases in 2023.
Price stated that being district attorney is her priority and this recall election would not stop her from doing her job. She trusts the efforts of the Protect the Win campaign to ensure that the message of keeping her in office is heard loud and clear.
“We believe in democracy, the people of this county have the right to elect a district attorney. They did that. We should not have to do it again, but we will do it again,” Price said.
