Boudin Critic Appointed New SF DA

SF Mayor London Breed has appointed Brooke Jenkins to be the San Francisco District Attorney, filling the vacancy created by the recall of Chesa Boudin. Eric Ting had this article yesterday in the SF Chronicle based on an insider tip, and the official announcement was made today, as reported in this article from Bay City News.

The appointment is a short one, as a special election will be held concurrently with the November general election to fill the seat until SF’s odd election cycle comes around again in 2023.

Ms. Jenkins was a prosecutor in the office until last year, when she quit over Mr. Boudin’s policies and joined the recall effort. Heather Knight had this article at the time on her departure. She considers herself a progressive (it is SF, after all), but what she means by “progressive” is clearly much different than what Mr. Boudin means.

Mr. Boudin may run again. I doubt he has much of a chance. He was elected last time through SF’s instant runoff system, and his win was due in significant part to his cultivating the vote of the Chinese community. With an incumbent on the ballot, the runoff system is less likely to be a factor. Given the large number of Asian victims in the reign of terror that he helped bring about, I expect he would get a much smaller portion of that vote the second time.