San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was elected on an agenda of criminal justice reform. She was met with backlash from law enforcement, conservatives and residents concerned about crime and was removed as the city’s top prosecutor.
It was the middle of his first term.
Boudin said in a speech that he been outspent by opponents and that his office had reduced incarceration rates and prioritized mental health and drug treatment for prisoners.
“We’ve already won, because we are part of a national movement that recognizes we can never incarcerate our way out of poverty,” he said. We have shown San Francisco and the world that we do not need to rely on fearmongering or exploitation of tragedy to build safety.”
In 2019 Boudin created a wrongful conviction unit that freed a man imprisoned for decades. He eliminated cash bail, and stopped prosecuting contraband cases that originated with minor traffic stops.
Boudin called the recall was “dangerous for democracy”, and said voters who were opting to remove him didn’t even know who would replace him. He called the recall a “Republican- and police union-led playbook to undermine and attack progressive prosecutors who have been winning elections across the country”.
Recall efforts are often backed by conservatives. They have become increasingly common in California, and voters can petition to remove a politician for any reason.
The San Francisco recall campaign was funded by wealthy donors, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, which including Ron Conway, an early DoorDash investor, and William Oberndorf, a billionaire.
City residents had been blaming Boudin for crime that escalated during the pandemic.
In February residents elected to remove three school board members because parents were frustrated with closed schools during the pandemic.
