Price recall campaign declares victory. What comes next?

The campaign to recall DA Pamela Price declared victory this week, with 64% of the electorate voting to remove Price from office.

As of Monday, nearly 484,000 ballots had been tallied from Alameda County with 187,000 remaining, according to the latest estimates.

"This recall was about ensuring that victims and their families are respected, heard, and supported," said recall leader Brenda Grisham. "DA Price's policies disregarded the needs of those who have already suffered enough. Today, we stand united in restoring a justice system that serves everyone, especially those most affected by crime."

The margin to recall Price has remained largely unchanged since election night.

As of this week, the registrar of voters had tallied about 275,000 votes in favor of the recall and 155,000 opposed.

The next round of election results is expected Friday.

On Wednesday, the DA's office declined to comment on the recall results.

The Price campaign has not responded to requests for comment this week.

The most recent statement from the Price campaign, in which Price urged "patience" and said she remained optimistic, was posted last week.

"Let’s allow the process to unfold and trust in the power of every vote," the campaign wrote on X on Nov. 6.

Alameda County district attorney recall: Next steps

Moving forward, the Alameda County registrar of voters is slated to certify the election results by Thursday, Dec. 5.

That's when DA Pamela Price would officially be removed from office and her seat declared vacant.

County officials said Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts would run the office until the Alameda County Board of Supervisors appoints a replacement DA.

On Wednesday, District 3 Supervisor Lena Tam said the board expects to discuss the process for replacing the district attorney at its Dec. 10 meeting.

Tam said she expects the process to be similar to when the board appointed Supervisor Elisa Márquez following Supervisor Richard Valle's death from cancer in 2023.

In that situation, the board had a two-week application period followed by public interviews of the candidates in a daylong board meeting.

After the interviews, the board voted publicly to choose the replacement.

"All the questioning will be done in public," Tam said. "Voting will be done in public."

One difference between the two processes is that county statute sets out a 60-day timeline for filling BOS vacancies, she said.

There's no such timeline when it comes to the replacement of an elected district attorney, she said, aside from an attorney general opinion that directs the board to "act expeditiously" in its decision.

The board may hold replacement DA interviews at a meeting in January or February, Supervisor Nate Miley told KRON4 last week.

Whoever is appointed would serve as Alameda County district attorney until the general election in 2026.

The winner of that race would serve out the remainder of Price's term, which was set to end in 2028.

Who could be Alameda County's next district attorney?

The other obvious question for Alameda County voters is who might be up for the job now that Price is out.

A number of names have already come up — although it's still early days.

Possible candidates include current and former Alameda County prosecutors such as outspoken Price critic Amilcar "Butch" Ford; Annie Esposito, who was second-in-command under Nancy O'Malley but resigned after Price took office — despite a promotion; Jimmie Wilson, who ran unsuccessfully against Price in 2022; L.D. Louis, who is now deputy county counsel for Alameda County; Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ursula Jones Dickson and Senior Deputy District Attorney Elgin Lowe.

Darryl Stallworth, a veteran defense attorney who started his career as an Alameda County prosecutor, has also been floated as a potential candidate.

Other names that have come up include Alameda City Attorney Yibin Shen and Venus Johnson, chief deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice.

Stay tuned to The Scanner for continuing coverage.