Backers set to defend new Alameda County D.A.

Minutes before progressive Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was sworn into office Monday, her supporters — led by longtime activist Angela Davis — offered a solemn warning: Don’t let Price get Boudin-ed — run out of office like recalled progressive San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin.

Davis, who has lived in The Town for about five decades, told a couple of hundred supporters at the California Ballroom in Oakland that while she “wholeheartedly supported” Price, she “hesitated for a moment, because I know that she cannot do it alone ... and noted what happened across the bay.”

Less than a year ago, Boudin — who called for many of the same criminal justice reforms that Price has championed — was recalled by voters. Boudin, despite his flaws, became a convenient scapegoat for all of San Francisco’s ills. And like many first-time office-holders, he hadn’t developed a political coalition behind him to defend him against the attacks.

Not that he had a majority of voters backing him anyway. He won only 36% of the vote in the four-way district attorney race in 2019, eventually defeating incumbent Suzy Loftus by fewer than 3,000 votes in the ranked-choice election. Shortly after he took office, COVID lockdown went into place, preventing Boudin from doing the in-person schmoozing that would have helped him fortify his political base.

That ultimately hurt him. The people who recalled Boudin weren’t just Republicans, even though some high-profile conservatives funded the recall petition against him. Boudin went down mostly at the hand of his fellow Democrats, including many progressives.

Price’s supporters fear that the same could happen in Alameda County, even though she handily defeated veteran Alameda County prosecutor Terry Wiley with 53% of the vote. Price’s turf as the county’s chief prosecutor isn’t just progressive Oakland and Berkeley. It also includes more conservative (if still Democrat-leaning) cities like Pleasanton and Livermore and parts of the East Bay hills.

Davis understands this dynamic and sounded the alarm Monday. At 78, the author, activist and prison abolitionist has endeared herself to a new generation of racial justice activists — many of whom were born decades after she entered the national spotlight for opposition to the Vietnam War.

“We have to persuade the members of our communities to show her our support when she stands against those who think that safety and security in our communities can only be achieved by jailing those are without shelter, by incarcerating those with mental and emotional disorders,” Davis told the cheering audience.

What is at stake, Davis said, is critical: “Price is now in a position to teach us the true meaning of safety and security.”

Others echoed that sentiment Monday, including state Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, the first Muslim lawmaker elected to the Senate.

“The goal is that everybody here is an ally to each other, and Pamela is going to need it because as much as we’re excited to see a new chapter, there’s many, many people that want to see her fail,” Wahab said.

“We’re going to see lies and attacks and so much more,” Wahab said. “That’s the way it works. Politics is no joke. So I ask all of you guys not only to celebrate the win today, but to make sure that she has a shoulder to lean on when times get tough.”

Wahab scorned critics who have said that with progressive women being elected to positions of power in the East Bay — including herself, Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao — “public safety is going to go negative. The streets are going be more dangerous. They called all of us dangerous in so many words.”

Throughout the campaign, Wiley sought to position himself as the “public safety” candidate. He was endorsed by the Alameda County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association, the California Police Chiefs Association and the Alameda County Prosecutors’ Association.

“I think that she has promised to implement a very similar system of justice that Chesa Boudin implemented in San Francisco,” Wiley said of Price at an August forum.

BART Board member Lateefah Simon, who emceed Monday’s event, blasted the notion that Price would be soft on public safety.

“Let it be known that women of color want nothing more but for our communities to be safe,” Simon said. “These women come from a lineage that literally cut down their brothers and fathers from trees. How dare any implication be made that a woman who seeks to be the top cop of our beautiful home wants nothing less than peace.”

Price will have a partner in Oakland’s City Hall. Recently elected Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who administered the oath of office to Price, promised Monday to work “hand in glove together to ensure that we can get this work done” as fellow progressives.

Price realizes the challenges she faces being, as she put it Monday, the first “non-appointed, non-annointed” district attorney in an “untouched tower of legacy appointed and unchallenged district attorneys since (future Supreme Court Justice) Earl Warren left in 1939.”

She cautioned her supporters Monday that “the system was not broken in a day. The problems were not created overnight and they are not going to be fixed overnight. This system is not set up for change. But we must do better.”

She realizes that her political enemies are ready to pounce. But she’s been staring down the odds her whole life. She grew up in the foster care system, spent time in juvenile hall and is a domestic violence survivor.

She’s also resilient and smart. Price is a graduate of Yale University and Berkeley Law School.

“There are people who are invested in a broken system who will resist and make it harder for us to work for you,” Price told supporters Monday. “Those who have participated, profited and prospered in a broken system will not all go away quietly. But those who know me, know that I am not intimidated. Nothing in this life has been easy for me.”

“We have assembled a great team to help fix our broken system,” Price said. “We are your Avengers.”

Reforming a broken criminal justice system will take a super-heroic effort. But unlike Boudin, Price will have a better chance to do so if her supporters are ready to back her up when the time comes.

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was among those who celebrated that Price is Alameda County’s first Black female district attorney. But, Quan said, “when you’re a first, you often have a target on your back.”

“We thought it was tough getting her elected,” Quan said. “But now the real hard work starts.”

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli