If Pamela Price wants to be DA, her election map will need to look like Yesenia Sanchez's blueprint for victory
Early results show Sanchez reached voters beyond progressive strongholds in Alameda County
ELECTION 2022
—EXPANDING THE ELECTORATE—Alameda County District Attorney candidate Pamela Price ran her primary campaign this spring in almost exactly the same manner as her unsuccessful campaign in 2018 for the same job.
—In fact, Price has largely used the same stump speech ever since. Four years ago, her rhetoric about being a “drum major for justice,” garnered Price strong support from progressive strongholds in Oakland and surrounding areas. That translated into 42 percent of the vote in a head-to-head matchup with Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley.
—The election map from the 2018 DA primary showed that Price, noted in purple, won Oakland and areas to the north, but was almost shutout elsewhere in Alameda County.
—But as you see in the most current electoral map from this week’s primary, Price’s support remains in almost the exact same areas.
—Price’s first-place finish this week in the four-candidate primary for DA is likely to yield a result just under 40 percent of the vote. This could be an indicator that 40 percent is Price’s ceiling. Without a change in strategy this fall, she may again be blown out at the polls.
—Although Price won the primary and will advance to a November runoff, likely against Alameda County Assistant DA Terry Wiley, her campaign’s inability to reach a larger number of non-Oakland and non-progressive voters will likely hamper her general election prospects.
—The 30,000-feet in the sky analysis of Bay Area criminal justice in this week’s primary incorrectly makes the contrast between San Francisco voters recalling their progressive DA, while Alameda County voters embracing a progressive DA candidate like Price.
—The same dissatisfaction San Francisco residents have about crime and homelessness on the streets absolutely exists in the East Bay and will loom large in the November campaign for Alameda County DA.
—Over the course of the past five years as Price has almost perpetually run for DA, she has not revealed a propensity for dialing back some of her criminal justice views. For this Price’s supporters laud her unwavering views. During the primary campaign, Price showed little interest in offering a menu of reforms that might be more palatable to the entire county electorate.
—In short, Price’s electoral maps needs to start looking like the one belonging to Yesenia Sanchez in the Alameda County Sheriff race.
—Sanchez dominated nearly the entire western half of the county from Albany down to parts of Fremont (noted in purple in the map below). Furthermore, in the areas where Sanchez did not win, the votes, instead, went to candidate JoAnn Walker, who like Sanchez ran an anti-Ahern campaign. These pockets of light green will surely be in Sanchez’s column should there be a November runoff between her and Ahern.
—Price, though, doesn’t have a fellow losing opponent who will certainly push their support to her campaign in the fall. Jimmie Wilson voters might be inclined to gravitate to Wiley. Perhaps, Seth Steward supporters? But that might only be under 10 percent of the vote, probably not enough to reach a majority.