Recall Targeting Alameda County DA Is Endorsed by East Bay Congressman

Updated 5:30 p.m. Wednesday

The recall effort against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price gained the backing of a prominent East Bay politician ahead of November’s election with the endorsement of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin).

“District Attorney Pam Price has failed the residents of Alameda County,” Swalwell told KQED on Wednesday. “She has essentially put in place pro-criminal policies where the cops catch the bad guys and she releases them back into the community, and that has made us less safe and has created anxiety among citizens. And you see the effects of this all throughout the county.”

Price was elected in 2022 on a platform focused on reducing incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Her policies include not charging some types of sentencing enhancements and not charging minors as adults.

Swalwell specifically pointed out Price’s refusal to seek gun enhancements, saying that “if you’re taking an approach of not going after violent criminals, people who use guns — if that’s your baseline, the most dangerous people who have access to the most dangerous weapons are not being charged with that.”

A spokesperson for Price said gun enhancements are applied on a case-by-case basis, as outlined by office policy.

The effort to recall Price says her policies led to a spike in crime in the county in 2023. So far this year, available crime data for Oakland shows the rate there has been declining, mirroring a national downtrend. Research from the National Institute of Justice, meanwhile, suggests that more severe jail and prison sentences are not an effective deterrent of crime.

At a press conference in Hayward Wednesday, Swalwell, who represents southeastern Alameda County in the House of Representatives, said he saw the need for criminal justice reforms, pointing out that sentences for people whose crimes stem from addiction or mental health should be minimized. He also said Price’s policies are too friendly to people accused of crimes.

Swalwell has long been a critic of Price. When Price ran for office in 2022, he donated to her opponent. Last May, they squabbled online, with Swalwell, a former Alameda County prosecutor, accusing Price of being “soft on crime” after the robbery of a Dublin mail carrier.

Price’s campaign retorted by accusing Swalwell of holding Price to a higher standard than her predecessor — Swalwell’s former boss, Nancy O’Malley — and pointed out that robberies targeting mail carriers are a longstanding problem that Swalwell only started blaming the district attorney’s office for after a Black woman was elected.

Price has been highly critical of O’Malley, accusing her of leaving behind an office in disarray. In 2019, O’Malley gave the introductory remarks at the campaign launch of Swalwell’s short-lived run for president.

According to its 2023 Annual Report, Price’s office took action on approximately the same percentage of cases brought to it by police as in the previous four years under O’Malley.

Swalwell gained national attention when he became the House manager leading the second impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump in 2021. He later sued Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. That case is ongoing. Since then, Swalwell has kept up a drumbeat of media critiques of Trump.

He appears to be the first elected official from the county to endorse the recall effort against Price. A handful of local leaders and the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee have endorsed the campaign to keep Price in office.

In a statement on Wednesday, the pro-Price campaign questioned the motives of Swalwell’s endorsement and sought to frame it as out of step with the Democratic Party.

“Congressman Swalwell’s actions have raised questions about whom he truly represents and what impact his support may have on Democratic values in our community,” a spokesperson for the campaign said. “His support for an effort that undermines a fellow Democrat and rejects the position of local Democrats has left many of his constituents feeling betrayed.”

The endorsement comes as both the recall campaign and the anti-recall effort kick into high gear in the last month before the election.

This past week, one of the recall campaign committees, called Supporters of Recall Pamela Price, received $152,500 in donations from the San Leandro Police Officers Association, the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County and a San Rafael-based group called Revitalize East Bay. Meanwhile, yard signs opposing the recall are popping up in front of houses and roadway medians across the county.