Chesa Boudin says he gained’t run for San Francisco DA this 12 months

Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin will not run for re-election this year, saying he would instead take time with his family after “more than three years of nearly non-stop campaigning” in a thread posted to Twitter Thursday.

The announcement comes less than a month after the swearing in Boudin’s replacement, Brooke Jenkins, who was appointed to the role by Mayor London Breed. Jenkins, who worked under Boudin until she quit help lead the recall effort against him, has announced her intent to run in the November special election.

Though Boudin had never committed to running in November, his presence loomed large for both supporters and critics who braced for a heated battle between him and Jenkins. His decision to bow out will reshape the next DA’s race, and raises the question of who Boudin’s supporters will back.

In a 14-tweet thread, Boudin said over the past few weeks he had taken stock of the burden that campaigning has had on his family, adding that while he was “committed to criminal justice reform, I’m also committed to my family.

“My son is on the verge of taking his first step and speaking his first word. My wife’s research on multiple sclerosis at UCSF deserves the same support she has offered my work. My elderly father just came home from prison after more than 40 years,” Boudin said. “My mother died in May and I have not had time to clean out her apartment or plan her memorial or even mourn her death.”

Boudin went on to list his proudest accomplishments his team achieved during his two and a half years in office, including an expansion of victim services, resentencing work, a worker protection unit and their “historic strides in police accountability.”

Boudin could go after the DA post again in the next regular election, in November 2023. He has already filed paperwork with the city if he chooses to do run next year. Boudin’s tweets made no mention of whether he would run again in 2023.

Both Boudin and Jenkins declined to be interviewed Thursday.

Boudin’s absence clears the path for other contenders to challenge Jenkins in the fast-paced runup to this fall’s election. He leaves up for grabs a large and impassioned swath of supporters, upset about both the recall and the current direction of the office, and ready to throw their weight against Jenkins.

Primed to court this contingency is Joe Alioto Veronese, a civil rights attorney who announced his candidacy months before Boudin’s recall election.

“When it comes down to it, 45% of the people voted to keep him,” Alioto Veronese said in a Thursday interview, referring to the outcome of the recall.

“That’s because there’s a large population … of people that believe in criminal justice reform. “I have been doing criminal justice reform since 2004, when I was a police commissioner here in San Francisco.”

Aside from Jenkins and Alioto Veronese, only one other candidate, Maurice Chenier, has declared their intention to run in November, according to the San Francisco Elections website. Chenier could not be reached for comment.

Other moderates who were on Breed’s short list for the District Attorney appointment last month, including veteran prosecutor Nancy Tung and San Francisco Supervisor Catherine Stefani, are not expected to run. Jenkins recently named Tung chief of special prosecutions, a top leadership position in her administration.

Rachel Marshall, who served as communications director and policy adviser for Boudin until she was fired by Jenkins last month, said Boudin’s decision came as a disappointment to his supporters.

“I know that so many of us who are committed to this movement still believe in him and our mission and want to continue,” Marshall said.

This week, in her first major policy announcement since taking office Jenkins said she would be revoking the plea offers extended to at least 30 defendants accused of selling drugs, and would seek harsher penalties against certain offenders.

The announcements were swiftly cheered by many of the city’s moderates who believed Boudin was too soft on drug offenders, but blasted by progressives as reminiscent of the nation’s failed War-on-Drugs policies.

“The only thing that has changed since Jenkins took over, when it comes to crime, is that the DA is no longer blamed for what happens,” Marshall said Thursday.

Alioto Veronese said many of his proposed policies will appeal to the city’s progressives, including the elimination of civil assessments, no-knock warrants, and “doing away with cash bail in a way that doesn’t pull the system apart.”

“I think the DA’s office needs to have one focus, and that’s fighting crime in San Francisco,” he said. “The DA shouldn’t be focused on ribbon cutting ceremonies, protecting the mayor or conducting social experiments.”

Potential candidates have until Aug. 12 to file their nomination petitions.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy