Ousted Woke San Francisco DA Says He Won’t Try To Get Elected Again, Attacks His Replacement

Ousted progressive San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin announced Thursday that he won’t attempt to make a comeback in the general election in November.

In a long Twitter thread Thursday afternoon, Boudin explained that he was not running for re-election in November, citing family reasons. Boudin went on the tout the criminal justice reforms he enacted while serving as the city’s top prosecutor and took a few parting shots at his replacement, Brooke Jenkins, who has already begun to undo Boudin’s work after he was soundly recalled by the voters of San Francisco in June.

“Over the past weeks I’ve spoken to family, friends, supporters and everyday San Franciscans about how we can best continue to make our criminal justice system fairer and more effective,” Boudin wrote. “I have devoted my public life to this effort because it makes our communities stronger & safer. I’ve also taken stock of the burden that more than three years of nearly non-stop campaigning placed on my family. I’m committed to criminal justice reform; I’m also committed to my family.”

Boudin then mentioned his father’s return from prison; Boudin’s father, David Gilbert, was released from jail in November. A member of the far-left terrorist group Weather Underground, Gilbert was serving a 75-years-to-life sentence for his role in an armed robbery of a Brinks armored truck in New York in which two police officers and the truck guard were killed. His sentence was commuted by former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) on his last day in office in August 2021. The former DA also mentioned his mother’s death in May, as well as his wife and infant son as reasons for his decision to bow out.

“I am choosing to put my family first: I will not be running for office in 2022,” Boudin said.

Boudin went on to tout his record as DA. “We made a lot of progress in a short period of time,” he wrote. “I am particularly proud of our significant expansion of victims services, including new programs to serve our AAPI community and the appointment of the first-ever multilingual Chinese American Victim Services Chief, our resentencing work that offered second chances to those who had caused harm and supported victims, our restorative justice work, our focus on accountability through behavioral health treatment, our Innocence Commission’s exoneration of a wrongly-convicted man, our innovative program tackling auto burglary fencing operations, our creation of a worker protection unit, our litigation against manufacturers of ghost guns, and our historic strides in police accountability.”

He then thanked his staff for their work.

Boudin concluded his thread by taking parting shots at his successor, Brooke Jenkins, who has already begun to unravel much of his work. “I am gravely concerned by what I’ve seen from the current, appointed District Attorney. We have heard no assurances that the successful programs we’ve implemented will continue, and indeed, we see worrying signs every day as progress is rolled back. I join the vast majority of San Franciscans in urging our elected — or, as is increasingly common, appointed — leaders to work for equal justice, evidence-based reforms, and improved services for victims.”

Within a week of her appointment by Mayor London Breed, Jenkins fired 15 of Boudin’s high-level staffers. Then on Wednesday, she revoked more than 30 plea deals his office had struck with drug dealers during his tenure.

“I know this news will come as a disappointment to many who are dedicated to reform,” Boudin concluded. “I assure you I remain deeply committed to justice and to the people of San Francisco.”

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