Ahern Concedes Sheriff's Race; Sanchez First Latina, Woman To Serve

LIVERMORE, CA — Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern conceded Wednesday to Livermore resident and Sheriff’s Commander Yesenia Sanchez.

With 141,420 votes (52.84 percent) as of Thursday morning, Sanchez has enough votes to declare victory without a November runoff. Ahern received 83,599 votes (31.24 percent), while JoAnn Walker, an SFPD veteran officer, received 42,618 votes (15.92 percent.)

Sanchez will be the first Latina and first woman elected sheriff of Alameda County. She joins Capt. Christina Corpus, who appears poised to win the San Mateo County Sheriff election, as the first Latina sheriffs in California history.

"I would like to congratulate the new Sheriff-Elect on her election to become the 23rd Sheriff of Alameda County," Ahern said in a statement posted to social media. "It has been my honor and privilege to serve as your Sheriff for the past 16 years…I have been very fortunate to have worked with the finest individuals that have ever been in law enforcement.”

Ahern was elected sheriff in 2006. In his statement, he said he would retire on Jan. 3, 2023, after nearly 43 years of public service.

Sanchez declared victory Tuesday night. "The voters of Alameda County have spoken," she told multiple news organizations in a statement. "They yearn for a Sheriff who will bring reform, transparency, and accountability to the Office. I hear these calls loud and clear. As the next Sheriff of Alameda County, I know that I've been entrusted with an enormous duty, and I will make our county proud."

Sanchez has worked for the Sheriff's Office since 1997 and currently serves as division commander at Dublin's Santa Rita Jail. A KTVU investigation found that 58 inmates have died at the jail, the highest in-custody death rate of any jail in Northern California. The jail has also been the subject of numerous lawsuits pertaining to the treatment of mentally ill prisoners, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Sanchez, who has overseen Santa Rita since 2020, made conditions at the jail a centerpiece of her campaign. She claimed that Ahern steered money away from the jail, leaving it short-staffed. Sanchez also campaigned for "cultural change that starts at the top" to prevent more excessive force lawsuits. Another KTVU investigation found that the Alameda County Sheriff's Office paid $27 million in excessive force lawsuits between 2015 and 2020, the highest of any Bay Area sheriff's office.

In a year when rising crime has made even San Francisco voters recall a progressive DA, Sanchez pledged a number of progressive reforms, including:

• Enhanced rehabilitation and job training for jail inmates.
• Working with outside agencies to determine how to reduce racial bias in law enforcement.
• Limiting the Sheriff's Office's cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• Increased community engagement, including "work to repair and build trust with marginalized communities." Sanchez said Ahern has "failed to forge meaningful relationships with an unacceptably large number of elected officials and community leaders in Alameda County."
• Support for a new county oversight committee to conduct investigations into the Sheriff's Office.

Sanchez grew up in Hayward, and lives in Livermore with her husband Todd and three stepdaughters.