District Attorney Pamela Price took office in January 2023. Her opponent, Terry Wiley, was the former DA - Nancy O’Malley’s - deputy. When District Attorney Price took office, she inherited a staff of lawyers who were openly hostile to the program of reform that the voters had elected her to enact. 

Unhappy with the voters’ decision to elect a Black woman and civil rights leader as DA, attorneys in the DA’s office began organizing to overturn the election almost as soon as she took office. In February, barely two months into Price’s tenure, recall leader and current Oakland city attorney candidate Brenda Grisham was already calling publicly for a recall. By March, Price’s own disgruntled staff members were already giving interviews to the media in articles calling for a recall.

A committee formed to formalize the recall effort, led by Brenda Grisham, and the SAFE committee  filed their intent to recall petition on July 10, 2023, just seven months into Price’s term. The registrar of voters identified the minimum threshold for signatures as 73,195 and set a deadline of March 5, 2024 for filing of signatures.

In the process of filing their recall petition, SAFE Committee and Registrar of Voters (ROV) discovered that the Alameda County Charter was not updated to current election standards and laws. This resulted in the Board Of Supervisors calling for a special election and issuing a charter amendment to voters for approval to update the Alameda County charter on recall procedures to align with state law. 

The SAFE committee calling for a recall openly organized against the charter amendment to update the elections laws, in order to avoid their recall being placed on the regular election ballot. They wanted an expensive, taxpayer-funded special election, knowing that voter turnout tends to be lower and more conservative in special elections, advantaging their recall campaign.

Despite these efforts, the charter amendment proceeded forward for voter approval as Measure B. On March 5, 2024, voters approved Measure B with 64.45% of votes. 

Through an active donor network that includes local tech and real estate millionaires, corporate real estate funded PACs and former DA Nancy O’Malley, SAFE raised $1.7 million to gather the required signatures. The day before the primary election, March 4, 2024, the SAFE Committee submitted 123,374 signatures to the Registrar of Voters. 

Democracy itself is at stake in this election. If we allow a group of hedge fund managers and corporate real estate developers to overturn the will of the voters, the people of Oakland and Alameda County will have no voice in local elections going forward.