Alameda County DA Ursula Jones Dickson elected to finish out term of recalled Pamela Price

Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson was elected to finish out the term of her predecessor, Pamela Price, avoiding a November general election vote, county results indicated.

Jones Dickson maintained a 64% share of the vote with 221,000 votes following the latest ballot tabulation reported Monday afternoon. Price, who was attempting a comeback after voters recalled her in 2024, was a distant second with just over 86,000 votes, or 25%, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. 

With only an estimated 20,000 ballots still unprocessed, there was no path for Price to catch up to Jones Dickson, whose share will not fall below the 50% threshhold to trigger a runoff. 

"I think it was important for me to wait until most of the votes were in before declaring victory. There was indication we had won early, but we waited to make an announcement because I believe in the democratic process," Jones Dickson said in a statement. "Now that a more significant portion of the votes have been counted, I just want to thank the people of Alameda County for speaking out yet again regarding what they wanted in a district attorney and district attorney's office and I'm happy to usher that in for them. I'm ready to get to work on behalf of all the citizens here in Alameda County and continue to make sure victims' rights are part of the conversation going forward."

Political newcomer and attorney Gopal Krishan garnered 34,649 votes, or 10%.

Jones Dickson was appointed as district attorney after following Price's recall. Her election means she will serve the remaining two years of Price's original term, and Jones Dickson has indicated she will run again in 2028. A 2022 California law aligned the district attorney's and sheriff's races with presidential election years, giving DA's and sheriffs elected that year to six-year terms instead of the usual four years. 

Voters resoundingly reiterated their support for a more traditional prosecutorial approach favored by Jones Dickson after Price's recall, rejecting a return to the progressive prosecution reforms championed by Price. Jones Dickson ran on prioritizing violent-crime prosecution, victims' rights and reducing case backlogs. Among her first actions when she took over for Price in 2024 was reversing her predecessor's restrictions on sentencing enhancements that could lengthen prison terms. 

Price became Alameda County's first Black elected district attorney in 2022 after campaigning on reducing mass incarceration, eliminating racial disparities, limiting sentencing enhancements and increasing police accountability. Critics maintained that her policies emboldened criminals and led to a decline in confidence in public safety. Violent crime spiked dramatically during Price's first year before declining in 2024, according to California Department of Justice data.