Jones Dickson Leads Early In Alameda County District Attorney Race

At an election night watch party in downtown Oakland Tuesday, Jones Dickson told a crowd of supporters.

“It’s not over till it’s over, so I don’t celebrate before the eggs hatch. But what I see here is very encouraging,” she said.

Jones Dickson’s campaign reserved the top deck of Mad Oak for its election night party, attended by staff members, attorneys and supporters.

Wearing a bubblegum-pink blazer, Jones Dickson delivered brief remarks to staff members and supporters before the event got underway. Attendees in business attire, suits and button-down shirts mingled with cocktails and catered food.

Supporters who were not affiliated with the campaign said they backed Jones Dickson because of her focus on crime victims. Some said they had noticed improvements in public safety in Oakland.
As election returns rolled in, supporters applauded and cheered.

Under a 2022 law that shifted Alameda County district attorney elections to presidential election years, the winner of the 2026 race will serve a two-year term instead of the customary four years.

The office will then be on the ballot again in 2028 for a full four-year term. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors selected Jones Dickson in February 2025 from a pool of mostly current and former Bay Area prosecutors after nearly 63% of voters voted to recall Price in the 2024 general election.

Prior to being appointed, Jones Dickson was an Alameda County Superior Court judge for 11 years. She had also previously worked as a prosecutor with the Alameda County district attorney’s office.

Price, a progressive DA who ran on a platform of restorative justice, faced opposition from critics who accused her of being too lenient on crime and of mismanaging the district attorney’s office.

Upon assuming office, Jones Dickson reversed many of Price’s policies and decisions, a move that Price publicly rebuked. She also said her office had inherited a substantial backlog of cases.

At press conferences and during debates, Jones Dickson said she viewed the role of the district attorney as one that does not take political or ideological positions and talked frequently about centering the needs of victims of crime.

Nic Allen, a Jones Dickson supporter, pointed to fairness as a defining trait of her approach to the justice system.

“I think her fairness being a part of the justice system, at times it can be unjust, especially to Black and brown people, and her fairness has been all of her strength from the time she became a prosecutor to a judge, and now as the DA… she doesn’t waver from that at all.”

In December, Price announced she was running to get her old job back.

“I come here today because I stand in the gap for vulnerable communities,” Price said at a campaign launch event in Hayward. “Alameda County wants real justice that does not bend for wealth, status or political connections. I will be the district attorney who puts people first. I will go after corporate criminals, and I will hold law enforcement officers accountable.”

On the campaign trail, Price said her critics had been fixated on removing her from office before she started the job and there was more work to do.

Activist and UC Santa Cruz professor emerita Angela Davis supported Price’s bid for reelection, as did civil rights attorney John Burris and Elaine Brown, the former chairwoman of the Black Panther Party.

Krishan, a political newcomer who ran on a campaign of bringing renewed energy to the office and fighting for the county’s immigrants.

Jones Dickson was endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Party and a wide selection of current and former Democratic elected officials, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez.

KQED’s Maria Fernanda Bernal contributed to this story.