Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin — the progressive prosecutor who was ousted by voters in June — said Thursday he won’t be running in the special election this year.
Boudin explained his choice not to seek re-election in a Twitter thread, saying that he is “putting his family first.”
“Over the past weeks, I’ve spoken to family, friends and every day San Franciscans about how we can best continue to make our criminal justice system fairer and more effective. I have devoted my public life to this effort because it makes out communities stronger & safer,” he wrote.
“I’ve also taken stock of the burden of more than three years of nearly non-stop campaigning placed on my family,” Boudin said, adding, “I’m committed to criminal justice reform; I’m also committed to my family.”
Fed-up San Francisco voters recalled the progressive DA during a June 7 election over what many said were Boudin’s soft-on-crime policies that contributed to the city’s surge in crime, open-air drug dealing and robberies.
Mayor London Breed appointed Brooke Jenkins as the new DA in July.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Jenkins announced a new office policy that would revoke open drug plea cases and promise to hold dealers accountable.
“We cannot stand by while these neighborhoods continue to suffer with violence and drug dealing happening openly on their streets, and we also cannot continue to standby while people continue to die on our streets,” Jenkins said. “We have to make changes now to save lives.”
Boudin told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that he was still considering running for the top prosecutor position.
On Thursday, however, Boudin said focusing on his family will come first, including taking care of his elderly father who “just came home from prison after more than 40 years.”
His father, David, who received parole last year, was part of the left-wing group Weather Underground. David Boudin and his wife, Kathy, served prison time in a 1981 robbery in New York that left three people dead, including two police officers.
Boudin’s mother died of cancer in May.
The embattled DA stood by his policies, including his resentencing work that “offered second chances to those who had caused harm and supported victims, according to his tweet.
