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Longtime county prosecutor Terry Wiley continues to narrowly lead the election for Alameda County district attorney, but civil rights attorney Pamela Price has taken to Twitter to say there is still time for her to make a comeback from second place.
“As we expected, my opponent’s percentage lead is dwindling and we are still confident that when all the ballots have been counted, I will be declared the next (district attorney) of Alameda County,” Price tweeted after the most recent election tallies were released Thursday evening. “There are still a very large number of ballots left to be counted.”
Wiley, chief deputy DA for the county, first took a slim lead over Price on Election Night and still holds it with 51.52% of votes (93,420) to Price’s 48.48% (87,894). The margin of votes is now 5,526 according to the update from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office.
According to a tweet from the registrar’s office on Thursday, there are still an estimated 182,120 ballots left to be processed countywide. The next update will be posted on Monday (Nov. 14) at 5 p.m.
“We will have a better understanding with Monday’s release of numbers,” Price tweeted. “Our county is clearly divided on what type of leadership will fix the broken criminal justice system and protect public safety, so no matter who wins — it will require real transparency.”
Wiley did not respond to a request for comment as of publication time.
The contest for district attorney was wide open this year with current District Attorney Nancy O’Malley not seeking reelection in favor of retirement. Wiley had previously received O’Malley’s endorsement, who tweeted she is “firmly behind the election of Terry Wiley” to succeed her.
Usually in the past, the county would see the sitting district attorney resign or retire midterm, resulting in a high-ranking deputy DA, such as Wiley, being appointed as their successor by the Board of Supervisors.
Wiley and Price were the frontrunners during a close primary race in June, which ended with Price in the lead with 43.23% of the vote among four on the ballot.
Wiley, who has worked for the county’s DA Office since 1990 and has served in several prosecuting units, is also currently the director of the DA office’s new Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is focused on tackling crime while making sure justice is carried out fairly.
“As head of the Felony Trial Team, prosecutors, led by Wiley had a 93% conviction rate,” according to Wiley’s campaign website. “Wiley also led the nationally recognized Juvenile Division, where he addressed ethnic disparities of juveniles in custody and worked with the probation department to cut incarceration rates by two thirds.”
During some virtual debates prior to Election Night, Wiley said some of his goals, if the numbers continue in his favor and he wins the election, include finding alternative solutions to nonviolent crimes and addressing the repeating offenders who drive about 70% of the violent crime in the county by either getting them help, or getting them off the streets.
Price, on the other hand, comes from a background of running her own civil rights litigation practice for roughly 30 years. She has advocated for criminal justice reform that focuses on alternatives to incarceration such as jail diversion and restorative justice programs for young offenders.
Her campaign focused around her “10-Point Platform” which includes work to restore public trust in the criminal justice system, reduce gun violence, implement fair justice measures, stop over-criminalizing youth, end the death penalty, protect immigrant communities, hold police accountable for misconduct, establish prosecutorial accountability, effective re-entry strategies, and invest in public health and social services.
But as she waits for updates from the county, she said that no matter who wins, they will need to be transparent about their work in the future.
“Unfortunately, this election was marred in fear-mongering, misogyny and lies from my opponent and his supporters,” Price tweeted. “It will be incumbent on the winner to rebuild trust with Alameda County residents and work to make them feel secure with real justice reforms. I am going to make sure that Alameda County can trust the DA’s office again and feel secure that real justice reforms are not to be feared but will make us safer & stronger.”
The district attorney oversees more than 150 attorneys whose job is to prosecute all criminal, civil and juvenile cases in the county. They also set policy on jail and prison time and how much incarceration time should be given for cases related to drug use or mental illness.
They also investigate and decide whether or not to criminally charge law enforcement officers accused of misconduct.
Just recently, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office stripped 47 of its deputies from their patrol duties after finding out they did not pass their psychological evaluation exams, assigning them to desk jobs pending potential future resolution.
This came in the wake of a first-year sheriff’s deputy being charged for double homicide in Dublin.
It’s hard to believe how incredibly stupid people in Alameda County are to vote for Price. These same policies she’s promoting have emboldened criminals and increased crime one county over in San Francisco where their DA was recalled and have still had a lasting effect on property and drug crimes. They’ve had the same effect under George Gazcon in Los Angeles (with murder rates up 35%) and Alvin Bragg in Manhattan – who charged a senior citizen shopkeeper defending his life for murder when the video showed it was clearly self defense. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and expecting a different result.
No incarceration of people under 25 = free criminal reign on physically attacking seniors, Asians, immigrant business owners – all of which already happens at an alarming rate in our county. Sanctuary city and no gang enhancements means no prosecution and no consequences in Alameda for the undocumented gangs selling Fentanyl and human trafficking. Since SF just got a real prosecutor, they’ll just move over here. While Pleasanton will most likely experience more home invasion crimes and a small percentage more physical and gun attacks, the poor and immigrants in the economically disadvantaged locales in Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward will be living in a very scary world should Price win.
If you look at the Alameda County elections map, you can see Price has virtually no support in Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore. We should consider seceding from Alameda County if she wins. The pandemic brought to light that the people of Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore have little in common with the rest of Alameda County (except love of the same sports teams). We shouldn’t be punished with bad policies and bad leaders because the rest of the county doesn’t have much sense.