Past wins include... ​

• Immigrant Policy Change & Training ​

  • DAs can’t hold deportation over someone’s head to keep them in jail and/or on probation longer. Nancy O’Malley worked with one of JRCoalition partners, Immigration Legal Resource Center, to train her line DAs about how to implement this new immigrant policy. 

• #CureTheConflict

  • Pledge to not take money from law enforcement unions for DA campaign.

• Intervention: halted youth transfers

  • Three successful cases that community organizations brought to the District Attorney asking to keep kids in juvenile court. This problem would be solved altogether if there were a blanket that no youth can be prosecuted as an adult.

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When is the election cycle?

The District Attorney is elected by the citizens of Alameda County every four years, with the next election happening in 2022. However, on the occasion that the position is vacated due to the current District Attorney retiring, resigning, or passing away, a new District Attorney will be appointed by the Board of Supervisors. This candidate will then be “affirmed” by voters during the next election cycle. However, many times the candidate runs unopposed because no one is eligible, or they don’t think they can win against the “incumbent” candidate (even though this “incumbent” candidate has only held office for a short time). You must have a law degree to run for DA.

The most important part of the DA race starts in June, during the Democratic primaries. Whoever wins the vote in June will be the Democratic candidate on the ballot in November. Because Alameda County usually votes blue, the DA race often happens between two democratic candidates, rather than between a Democrat and Republican. This is why the DA race is often determined in July during the primaries, rather than November during the general elections. 

For example, during the last election cycle in 2018, Nancy O’Malley and Pamela Price ran against each other in June for the Democratic DA candidate; Nancy O’Malley won by a slim margin. In November, O’Malley ran uncontested because there was no Repubican or Independent candidate on the ballot.  

DA O’Malley in the past has received generous donations from law enforcement unions, questioning whether she would hold cops accountable who murder people of Alameda County–especially Black and Brown people. In 2018, she was tasked with investigating two cases against Fremont police officers for shooting Nana Adomako and Elena Mondragon. That year, the Fremont police union donated the most money of any law enforcement union to O’Malley’s campaign: $10,000. Shortly after, DA O’Malley cleared the officers that shot and killed Mondragon, an unarmed 16-year old girl. She requested an independent review by the Attorney general for Adomako’s case. According to the East Bay Times, the Oakland Police Officers Association donated $9,500; the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County donated $8,500; the Livermore police officer union gave $2,500; and the San Leandro Berkeley police unions each gave $1,000. These generous donations show how the DA collaborates closely with law enforcement, even when part of their job is to supposedly hold killer cops accountable. Recently, DA O’Malley did pledge to no longer receive campaign donations from law enforcement unions; however, this is a small victory when she has refused to hold murderous cops accountable and stop them from perpetuating more harm.