2022 San Francisco District Attorney recall election
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The 2022 San Francisco District Attorney recall election was a successful special
recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...
to remove San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office. It was held on June 7, 2022, concurrent with the 2022 statewide primary elections. In the recall election, 55% of voters supported his removal, successfully removing him from office. Mayor
London Breed London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Board ...
, who had backed a more moderate Democrat in the 2019 district attorney race, appointed
Brooke Jenkins Brooke Jenkins (born 1981/1982) is an American lawyer serving as the 30th District Attorney of San Francisco. On July 8, 2022, Jenkins was appointed interim district attorney by Mayor London Breed following the successful recall of Chesa Boudin, ...
as Boudin's replacement on July 8, 2022. The successful recall reflected voter frustration with quality of life street conditions such as
homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
,
substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
, property crime, violence against Asian Americans, and mental illness. Journalists and opinion writers speculated that voters nationwide had become less supportive of
criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in Criminal justice, criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any poi ...
and wanted more focus on public safety, with implications for the November midterm elections.


Background

Boudin was elected San Francisco district attorney in the 2019 election on a progressive platform, narrowly defeating interim district attorney
Suzy Loftus Suzanne Theresa Loftus is an American attorney who served as interim San Francisco district attorney, nominated by Mayor London Breed after the resignation of George Gascón. Loftus ran in the 2019 San Francisco District Attorney election, losi ...
in a
ranked voting The term ranked voting (also known as preferential voting or ranked choice voting) refers to any voting system in which voters ranking, rank their candidates (or options) in a sequence of first or second (or third, etc.) on their respective ball ...
race. Boudin campaigned for the office on a decarceration platform of eliminating cash bail, establishing a unit to re-evaluate wrongful convictions and refusing to assist
Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
(ICE) with raids and arrests. In the following year, during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
lockdowns, there was significant media coverage of the increased visibility of
homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
and drug use, increased car burglaries, and videos of brazen thefts of high end stores and
Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...
drugstores shared on social media. Walgreens shut down a number of stores citing organized theft. Media put a spotlight on crime in San Francisco as crime patterns shifted drastically with increases in auto theft and burglary. Several
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
seniors were also attacked and there were fears of anti-Asian crime. Boudin was accused of being soft on prosecuting criminals and not keeping potentially harmful people in jail. Boudin was also criticized in several high-profile cases for releasing suspects with a history of previous convictions who then went on to commit further crimes. By May 2021, Boudin had become the target of two recall campaigns.


Context

The recall election was held within months of two other high-profile recall elections in California: the unsuccessful recall of
Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fr ...
in September 2021, and a successful recall of three
San Francisco Board of Education The San Francisco Board of Education is the school board for the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco. It is composed of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, state, and f ...
members in February 2022. In addition, a recall effort was underway against Los Angeles County District Attorney
George Gascón George Gascón (born March 12, 1954) is an American attorney and former police officer who is the district attorney of Los Angeles County. A member of the Democratic Party and a former Republican, Gascón served as the district attorney of San ...
. Boudin's election in 2019 and Gascón's victory over incumbent
Jackie Lacey Jacquelyn Phillips Lacey (born February 27, 1957) is an American politician who served as the District Attorney of Los Angeles County from December 3, 2012 to December 7, 2020. Lacey is the first woman, and first African-American, to serve as LA ...
in 2020 were considered "landmark moments in the nationwide 'progressive prosecutor' movement".


Recall petition

In the summer of 2021, there were two separate campaigns that sought to gather the necessary signatures in order to force a recall election against Boudin. The first campaign was spearheaded by former mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg, a member of the Republican Party, but narrowly fell short of the 51,325 signatures needed before the August 11 deadline. The second campaign was led by Mary Jung and Andrea Shorter, both members of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
, and had a deadline of October 25 to collect the same number of signatures. Jung is a former chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee. The second campaign submitted 83,484 signatures to the Board of Elections, which announced on November 9 that via a review of a representative 5% sample of signatures they determined that the number of valid signatures exceeded the required 51,325 and thus that a recall election would take place on June 7, 2022.


Reactions and public sentiment

Boudin repeatedly dismissed the recall attempt as being led by the Republican Party. As of February 2022, the political action committee (PAC) "Neighbors for a Better San Francisco" had contributed $1.8 million to the campaign, two-thirds of the recall campaign's total contributions.
William Oberndorf William Ernst Oberndorf is an American billionaire businessman and Republican political donor. Career Oberndorf attended University School in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Williams College in 1975. He received an MBA from Stanford Graduate ...
, the top donor to the Neighbors PAC in 2021, had contributed more than $900,000 to the PAC. Oberndorf also donated $1.5 million to a Republican Party PAC in 2020. Despite Boudin's claims, the recall campaign was publicly led by Democrats. 83% of donors to the campaign were from Democratic-registered voters or no-party-preference voters, with over 80% of donations coming from local San Franciscans. A February 2022 poll commissioned by the recall campaign indicated that two-thirds of Democrats were in favor of the recall. Meanwhile, on February 24, 2022, the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee voted by a margin of 20–2 to oppose the recall effort. The two committee members supporting the recall were
Suzy Loftus Suzanne Theresa Loftus is an American attorney who served as interim San Francisco district attorney, nominated by Mayor London Breed after the resignation of George Gascón. Loftus ran in the 2019 San Francisco District Attorney election, losi ...
and Nancy Tung; both were candidates in the 2019 district attorney election won by Boudin. A few Democratic Clubs of San Francisco (such as the Chinese American Democratic Club, the District 2 Democratic Club, the United Democratic Club, the Eastern Neighborhood Democratic Club, and the
Edwin M. Lee Edwin Mah Lee (Chinese: 李孟賢; May 5, 1952 – December 12, 2017) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death. He was the first Asian American to hold the office. Born in ...
Asian Pacific Democratic Club) were in favor of the recall.
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
and
Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
activists and groups were among the leading forces in the pro-recall camp. In a May 2022 poll sponsored by the ''
San Francisco Standard ''The San Francisco Standard'' is an online news organization based in San Francisco, California, launched in 2021 and funded in part by the billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz of Sequioa Capital. History The San Francisco Standard ...
'', 53% of San Franciscans strongly disapproved of Boudin's job performance, 18% somewhat disapproved, 22% somewhat approved and 8% strongly approved. Among all groups, Asian Americans were the most likely to vote in favor of the recall. The San Francisco Standard Voter Poll found that 67% of
Asian American and Pacific Islander Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian Am ...
voters were in favor of the recall, compared with 52% of
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
voters, 51% of
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voters, and 34% of
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
voters. The ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' investigated Boudin's office's prosecution data from 2020 to 2021 and found that his office's charging rates increased for homicide, rape, and narcotics, while it decreased for burglary, petty theft, and weapons cases. Boudin claimed that many cases brought to his office by San Francisco police lacked evidence to meet the standard required to prosecute some cases, leading to his office's lower charge rates. Local San Francisco news media endorsements were nearly unanimous in opposing the recall and this race was watched nationally as other DAs championing criminal justice reform faced similar challenges.


Funding

The pro-recall campaign raised over $7.2 million, while the anti-recall campaign raised over $3.3 million. The pro-recall campaigns relied primarily on local donations, with 78% of donating entities based in San Francisco. One of its biggest donors was billionaire
William Oberndorf William Ernst Oberndorf is an American billionaire businessman and Republican political donor. Career Oberndorf attended University School in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Williams College in 1975. He received an MBA from Stanford Graduate ...
. The anti-recall campaign was funded in large part by out of state donations, with 49% of donating entities based in San Francisco. Its largest donors were the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
of Northern California, unions, and billionaire
Chris Larsen Chris Larsen (born 1960) is a business executive and angel investor best known for co-founding several Silicon Valley technology startups, including one based on peer to peer lending. In 1996, he co-founded the online mortgage lender E-Loan, an ...
.


Endorsements


Polling

;Graphical summary


Results

The recall election had a higher turnout than the 2019 election that elected Boudin, with 46% of registered voters compared to 41%. With 55% of votes returning "Yes", Chesa Boudin was recalled from office.


Aftermath


Local analysis

The successful recall election reflected a change in mood from voters between Boudin's election in 2019 and the recall election in 2022. Stories of burglaries, shoplifting, and violent attacks on
Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
fomented voter anger. San Francisco Supervisor
Rafael Mandelman Rafael Mandelman (born October 17, 1973) is an American attorney and politician currently serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 8. Prior to his election to the Board of Supervisors, he served on the City Coll ...
noted, "The voters have risen up and expressed tremendous frustration with the state of the city and a feeling that leaders are not taking us in the direction the people want to go." The voter frustration combined with heavy fundraising, particularly from San Francisco businessmen like Bill Oberndorf and
Garry Tan Garry Tan (; born 1981) is the founder of Initialized Capital. He previously co-founded Posterous and Posthaven. He was also an early employee at Palantir Technologies, and a partner at Y Combinator. Early life and education Tan was born in 1 ...
, allowed the recall effort to create a campaign which resonated with the voters, despite wide support for Boudin from newspaper editorials, elected officials and political clubs. The case of Troy McAlister, who was on
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
when he allegedly killed two people in a crosswalk, electrified recall proponents. McAlister had been arrested multiple times in the months leading up to the deaths, but Boudin declined to file charges, relying on the state parole system. Recall proponents used the case to show that Boudin was not holding lawbreakers accountable, while Boudin supporters called the deaths tragic and unforeseeable. Some former District Attorney's office staff, who were fired or resigned, became vocal proponents of the recall. Although voters became more concerned for their personal safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boudin continued to focus on his campaign promises including expansion of
diversion program A diversion program, also known as a pretrial diversion program or pretrial intervention program, in the criminal justice system is a form of pretrial sentencing that helps remedy behavior leading to the arrest. Administered by the judicial or ...
s, reducing the jail population, and prosecute police officers. This invited criticism that Boudin cared more for offenders than for victims. While other local politicians like San Francisco Mayor
London Breed London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Board ...
changed their focus to public safety, Boudin did not adjust his messaging.


Regional and national context

Journalists and opinion writers speculated on what the election meant for
criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in Criminal justice, criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any poi ...
efforts nationwide. The successful recall reflected voter frustration with quality of life street conditions such as
homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...
,
substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
, property crime, violence against Asian Americans, and mental illness. Democratic strategists suggested that the electorate in the November midterms would be shifting rightwards on police, crime, and public safety; and candidates and politicians should change their messaging accordingly. In the June primary election, progressive candidates for law enforcement positions in the extended Bay Area had a mixed performance, neither a sweep nor a blowout. While progressive District Attorneys lost in San Joaquin,
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, and Santa Clara Counties, some progressive candidates succeeded.
Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...
District Attorney
Diana Becton Diana Becton, also known as Diana Becton Smith (born August 16, 1951) is a former trial judge and is currently both the first woman and first African American to be elected district attorney in the history of Contra Costa County in California. ...
, who prosecuted a sheriff's deputy for killing a person while one duty, handily won re-election against law enforcement opposition. In
Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...
, progressive District Attorney candidate Pamela Price advanced to the runoff, while reformer
Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
candidate Yesenia Sanchez defeated four-term incumbent Greg Ahern. Statewide in the
California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...
race,
Rob Bonta Robert Andres Bonta (born September 22, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Attorney General of California, attorney general of California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he pr ...
received 54% of the vote on a criminal justice reform platform.


Next District Attorney

Mayor London Breed appointed
Brooke Jenkins Brooke Jenkins (born 1981/1982) is an American lawyer serving as the 30th District Attorney of San Francisco. On July 8, 2022, Jenkins was appointed interim district attorney by Mayor London Breed following the successful recall of Chesa Boudin, ...
to replace Boudin as District Attorney. Jenkins was a former employee of Boudin who left the office and became a vocal proponent and surrogate of the recall campaign. Jenkins assumed office on Friday, July 8, 2022. Jenkins pledged to enforce drug crime laws, take a harder line on property crime, and address safety concerns of Asian residents. Jenkins pledged to balance reform and public safety, echoing messaging from the recall campaign. Voters will elect a District Attorney on November 5, 2022, to serve the remainder of Boudin's term until January 2024. The next election for a full term for District Attorney is November 2023.


See also

* 2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections


Notes

;Partisan clients


References

{{San Francisco elections San Francisco District Attorney recall 2022 in San Francisco San Francisco District Attorney recall District Attorney 2022 recall June 2022 events in the United States San Francisco District Attorney