SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – San Francisco Mayor London Breed has appointed a vocal opponent of recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin as his successor.
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Breed named Brooke Jenkins, who left the district attorney's office last fall to join the campaign to recall Boudin, as her choice for the new district attorney in a press conference on Thursday. The mayor said San Francisco residents wanted a district attorney with prosecutorial experience who would "strike that balance" between reforms and accountability.
"As your next district attorney, I will restore accountability and consequences to our criminal justice system here in San Francisco," Jenkins said in a speech on Thursday, adding that her office would "work every single day to restore order to our city."
Jenkins, a 40-year-old Black and Latina woman who lives in Mission Bay, joined the San Francisco District Attorney's Office in 2014 after working in private practice. She resigned from the office's homicide unit last October to join San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin, the richest and most prominent of the groups seeking his ouster.
Fifty-five percent of San Franciscans who voted on the recall measure last month chose to recall Boudin. Just under 45% of the city's registered voters (222,765) weighed in on his future.
Boudin, a progressive prosecutor narrowly elected into the office in 2019 after promising to end cash bail, hold police officers accountable and send fewer people to prison. He ended or actively opposed cash bail, charging minors as adults and using "three strikes" sentencing enhancements.
Jenkins, who called Boudin's office "a sinking ship" upon her departure last year, has said she believes prosecutors should be able to use all three policies in select situations. She said Thursday she hasn't yet formally identified which of the office's Boudin-era policies she wants to maintain or end.
A self-described progressive, Jenkins previously also criticized Boudin's management and said he failed to hold offenders accountable. He bore the brunt of voters' concerns about crime amid the COVID-19 pandemic, even as reported crime data showed overall and violent crime rates decreasing since 2019.
"I have never tried to lay blame for every circumstance in San Francisco on one single person," Jenkins told reporters in a press conference on Thursday. "We all have a responsibility in making this city safer and better, and so, for me, I'm dedicated to creating new policies, to refining old policies so that we can do what we need to do to make this city better."
This is not the first time this year Breed has tapped a prominent opponent to succeed a recalled official. Breed appointed Ann Hsu, an organizer in the successful campaign to recall former school board members Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Fauugaa Moliga in February, and two others to the San Francisco Board of Education. Breed said she underwent a similar process in selecting Jenkins.
Hsu, along with three other Breed appointees, voted last month to bring back merit-based admissions to Lowell High School. The school's shift to a lottery system was a central issue in the campaign to recall Collins, López and Moliga.
Jenkins said she will run in November to serve the remainder of Boudin's term. If she wins, she would then run for a four-year term in 2023. Boudin told the San Francisco Chronicle late last month he would not rule out running for the position again.
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