DA races spotlight divisions over crime and prosecution policies

Two California district attorney races on the June 2 ballot are emerging as high-profile clashes over public safety, prosecution tactics and proposed criminal justice system changes. In Alameda County, incumbent Ursula Jones Dickson faces recalled former district attorney Pamela Price and immigration attorney Gopal Krishan in a race shaped by competing views of Dickson's leadership and criticism of Price's tenure.

In Santa Clara County, longtime District Attorney Jeff Rosen is being challenged by Deputy District Attorney Daniel M. Chung, a prosecutor Rosen fired twice before arbitrators and county personnel officials reinstated him. Chung remains on the payroll but is not assigned active prosecutorial duties as he campaigns against his boss.

Meanwhile, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson is running unopposed for a new four-year term. Anderson, first elected in 2018 after serving as both a prosecutor and defender, has campaigned on aggressive prosecution of violent crime, fentanyl trafficking and organized retail theft.

The Alameda County race comes less than two years after voters recalled Price amid criticism over crime and management of the office. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to a November runoff.

Jeff Rosen

Jones Dickson, a former Alameda County prosecutor and Superior Court judge appointed after the Price recall, has cast herself as a steady hand restoring confidence and building a team of tough-on-crime prosecutors. "As DA, I am putting the rights of victims and survivors back at the center of our work," Jones Dickson said in a statement reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

She also moved quickly after taking office to reverse some of Price's directives limiting prosecutors' use of sentencing enhancements that can increase prison sentences.

Price, a civil rights attorney and the county's first Black district attorney, is attempting a comeback by defending the policies that helped propel her into office in 2022. Her platform emphasized rehabilitation, alternatives to incarceration and police accountability.

At a campaign event announcing her candidacy, Price said she would continue challenging misconduct by law enforcement and federal agents. "No one is above the law," she said, according to the Chronicle.

Krishan, an immigration attorney with less political visibility than his opponents, has campaigned as an outsider candidate focused on fairness and rebuilding community trust in the justice system. He has promised strong action against hate crimes and organized crime and pledged he would "refuse to allow the DA's office to be used as an instrument of unlawful federal immigration enforcement." Krishan added on his campaign website: "This is not about being soft on crime -- it is about being smart and just. When immigrant communities distrust law enforcement, they stop reporting crimes. Victims go unheard. Witnesses stay silent. Everyone is less safe."

In Santa Clara County, Rosen faces a challenge from Chung in a race that has exposed deep tensions inside the district attorney's office. The campaign has at times become personal. After one contentious debate, Rosen declined to shake Chung's hand.

Rosen, first elected in 2010 after defeating his boss, former district attorney Dolores Carr, has cultivated a reputation as a moderate prosecutor focused on public corruption, human trafficking and consumer fraud prosecutions. Chung has accused Rosen of retaliating against him after Chung publicly criticized office leadership and announced his candidacy.

The dispute between the two prosecutors stretches back about five years ago, when Chung visited families of mass shooting victims without Rosen's permission and was later escorted out of the office. Chung also wrote an opinion article criticizing Rosen as a progressive prosecutor who had not done enough to combat hate crimes against Asians before challenging him in the 2022 election.

In 2023, Chung attended a training seminar in San Diego after supervisors told him not to go and was fired again.

Rosen also faced a rare judicial rebuke this year after a Santa Clara County judge removed him and his office from retrying five Stanford University students charged with felony vandalism and conspiracy stemming from a 2024 protest inside the university president's office. The judge found Rosen created a conflict of interest by featuring the case in campaign fundraising and messaging condemning antisemitism, raising concerns the students could not receive a fair retrial. California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office later took over the prosecution.