Ousted prosecutor Chesa Boudin won’t run for his old seat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ousted San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled from his post in June, said Thursday that he will not campaign for his old seat in the November election.

The progressive criminal justice reformer tweeted that nonstop campaigning has taken a toll on his family, which includes his son born last September and his elderly father, a former Weather Underground radical who was released from prison after serving more than four decades for his role in a fatal robbery.

“My son is on the verge of taking his first step and speaking his first word,” Boudin said. “My wife’s research on multiple sclerosis at (University of California, San Francisco) deserves the same support she has offered my work.”

Boudin said that sitting out the November election does not preclude him for running for district attorney in 2023 for a full four-year term.

Boudin, 41, was recalled from office in June barely three years after he won office in November 2019 — amid frustration and anxiety over the pandemic and viral footage of Asian seniors being assaulted in San Francisco.

His platform of seeking alternatives to incarceration, offering restorative justice and giving defendants second chances did not resonate with some voters who became convinced that the city was sinking into petty lawlessness.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed appointed Boudin recall campaign leader Brooke Jenkins as interim district attorney until the November election.

Jenkins on Wednesday announced she has revoked 30 open plea offers to accused fentanyl dealers presented by Boudin’s administration, saying the deals’ terms were too lenient.

Jenkins plans to run in November in an attempt to serve the rest of Boudin’s term through 2023. Also in the race is Joe Alioto Veronese, a civil rights attorney and grandson of former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.

Boudin said in his announcement that he was “gravely concerned” that the progessive policies implemented by his administration are being rolled back by Jenkins.

Boudin, whose mother died in May, said the demands of his job had prevented him from has cleaning out her apartment and planning her memorial.

His mother was Kathy Boudin, also a former Weather Underground radical. She served more than two decades in prison for her role in the 1981 armored truck robbery and died of cancer. Her husband, David Gilbert, was granted parole last October.

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