Jim Cooper, Thien Ho headed to victory in Sacramento County sheriff, DA races

Jim Cooper and Thien Ho appear to have won their races to become Sacramento sheriff and district attorney, respectively, with the latest vote tallies showing them increasing their leads over their opponents.

Figures released Tuesday afternoon show Cooper beating Undersheriff Jim Barnes 55% to 45%, with a lead of 21,244 votes out of 200,762 counted to date in that race.

Ho, a longtime prosecutor in the Sacramento D.A.’s Office, also maintained a commanding lead over reform challenger Alana Mathews, beating her 58% to 42%, with a margin of 31,862 votes out of 192,628 counted so far.

The percentage margins Ho and Cooper have maintained since election day last week have remained the same as their vote totals continue to grow over Mathews and Barnes.

Both Ho and Cooper have said they are moving forward with plans for how they will reshape their offices once they are sworn in.

Cooper, a longtime sheriff’s captain and now a Democratic assemblyman from Elk Grove, will replace Sheriff Scott Jones, who opted to mount a losing bid for Congress after serving 12 years as sheriff.

Ho, the assistant chief deputy district attorney, will succeed two-term District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who made an unsuccessful bid to become California attorney general.

County officials say there still are 127,219 ballots left to count, up from 88,776 estimated to count last Friday. The increase came from ballots postmarked by last Tuesday’s deadline that were received before this Tuesday’s deadline to receive them, county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 3:50 PM.