2019 San Francisco District Attorney election explained

Election Name:2019 San Francisco District Attorney election
Country:San Francisco
Type:presidential
Previous Election:2015 San Francisco District Attorney election
Previous Year:2015
Next Election:2022 San Francisco District Attorney recall election
Next Year:2022 (recall)
Election Date:November 5, 2019
Ongoing:no
1Blank:First round
2Blank:Maximum round
Color1:c0c0c0
Candidate1:Chesa Boudin
1Data1:68,785
35.6%
2Data1:86,682
50.8%
Color2:c0c0c0
Candidate2:Suzy Loftus
1Data2:59,990
31.1%
2Data2:83,850
49.2%
Image4:Nancy Tung, 2019 DA election, SFGovTV screenshot (October 2019)(03m49s).jpg
Color4:c0c0c0
Candidate4:Nancy Tung
1Data4:37,337
19.3%
2Data4:Eliminated
Image5:Leif Dautch, 2019 DA election, SFGovTV screenshot (October 2019)(01m24s).jpg
Color5:c0c0c0
Candidate5:Leif Dautch
1Data5:27,021
14.0%
2Data5:Eliminated
Map Size:250px
District Attorney
Before Election:Suzy Loftus
After Election:Chesa Boudin

The 2019 San Francisco District Attorney election was held on November 5, 2019, to elect the next District Attorney of San Francisco. The election, which was held alongside the 2019 mayoral election in which incumbent mayor London Breed won her first full term, was won by public defender Chesa Boudin.

The incumbent district attorney, George Gascón, announced in October 2018 that he would not seek a third term.[1] Gascón then abruptly resigned in October 2019, and Breed appointed Suzy Loftus to replace him on an interim basis.[2] [3]

Four candidates, Chesa Boudin, Suzy Loftus, Nancy Tung, and Leif Dautch, ran in the nonpartisan election,[4] [5] with Boudin and Loftus seen as the front-runners.[6] San Francisco elections are conducted using ranked-choice voting: voters are permitted to rank the candidates in order of preference, and should no candidate garner a majority of first-choice votes, the support of the candidates with the fewest votes are successively re-allocated until one candidate attains a majority.[7]

The winner of the election was unclear for several days;[8] Loftus conceded the race to Boudin on November 9.[9] The final results showed Boudin defeating Loftus by 4.6 percentage points in first-choice votes, and by 1.7 percentage points in the final round.[10]

Background

In January 2011, district attorney Kamala Harris resigned to become attorney general of California, having been elected in 2010.[11] George Gascón, at the time the chief of police of San Francisco, was appointed as her successor by outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom, who had been elected in 2010 to become lieutenant governor of California. Gascón was subsequently elected to two full terms as district attorney, in 2011 and in 2015.

On October 2, 2018, after Suzy Loftus announced her candidacy for the office, Gascón announced that he would not seek re-election. On October 19, 2019, in the midst of the campaign, Gascón abruptly resigned as district attorney; he said he was considering running for district attorney of Los Angeles in 2020. Mayor London Breed then appointed Loftus to replace Gascón. The appointment was criticized by Loftus's election opponents, who charged that Breed was conferring the advantage of incumbency on her preferred candidate less than three weeks before the election; until the appointment of Loftus, the election had been slated to be the first open race for district attorney in over a century. However, some contend that the appointment hurt Loftus's chances in the election, as voters felt that the decision had seemingly been taken away from them.[12]

Candidates

Polling

Results

The results of the election are shown in the following tables:

Round-by-round results
Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
68,785 73,530 86,682
59,990 66,489 83,850
37,337 46,608
Leif Dautch 27,021
Continuing votes 193,133 186,627 170,532
Exhausted ballots 0 6,437 22,409
Over votes 525 594 717
Under votes 12,387 12,387 12,387
Total 206,045 206,045 206,045

Aftermath

Loftus conceded to Boudin on November 9.[14] [15] Since Boudin was seen as by far the most progressive candidate in the race, the result was interpreted as a continuation of a national trend of bold criminal justice reformists elected in large cities, including Larry Krasner in Philadelphia; Rachael Rollins in Boston; and Kim Foxx in Chicago.

Boudin took office on January 8, 2020.[16]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: SF district attorney George Gascón decides not to seek re-election. Sernoffsky. Evan. October 2, 2018. San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191104062503/https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-District-Attorney-George-Gasc-n-13276393.php. November 4, 2019.
  2. News: Loftus sworn in as interim DA, 17 days before election. Sernoffsky. Evan. October 19, 2019. San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191020211756/https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Mayor-moves-quickly-Loftus-to-be-sworn-in-14546874.php. October 20, 2019. Rubenstein. Steve.
  3. News: S.F. mayor Breed swears in Suzy Loftus interim district attorney. October 19, 2019. CBS Local. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191022140243/https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/19/sf-mayor-breed-swears-in-suzy-loftus-interim-district-attorney/. October 22, 2019.
  4. News: 2019 election: Who's running for San Francisco district attorney. November 4, 2019. KGO-TV. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191105192458/https://abc7news.com/politics/2019-election-sf-district-attorney-candidates/5626990/. November 5, 2019.
  5. News: SF district attorney candidates emphasize contrasting priorities in final days before election. Sernoffsky. Evan. October 31, 2019. San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191105123022/https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/SF-district-attorney-candidates-emphasize-14696436.php. November 5, 2019.
  6. News: Poll: Chesa Boudin, Suzy Loftus lead district attorney race in SF. Sernoffsky. Evan. October 21, 2019. San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111134308/https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Poll-Chesa-Boudin-Suzy-Loftus-lead-district-14549106.php. November 11, 2019.
  7. Web site: Ranked-choice voting. SFgov.org. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190526014712/https://sfelections.sfgov.org/ranked-choice-voting. May 26, 2019. November 14, 2019.
  8. News: San Francisco district attorney race too close to call. November 6, 2019. KGO-TV. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191107153907/https://abc7news.com/politics/san-francisco-district-attorney-race-too-close-to-call/5675352/. November 7, 2019.
  9. News: Chesa Boudin, whose parents were imprisoned, wins San Francisco D.A.'s race. Nguyen. Daisy. November 10, 2019. NBC News. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111040117/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chesa-boudin-whose-parents-were-imprisoned-wins-san-francisco-d-n1079586. November 11, 2019.
  10. Web site: 2019 San Francisco District Attorney election: RCV detailed report 11. November 13, 2019. SFelections.org. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191114091300/https://www.sfelections.org/results/20191105/data/20191113/da/20191113_da_detail.pdf. November 14, 2019. November 14, 2019.
  11. News: George Gascón enters race for district attorney in Los Angeles. Arango. Tim. October 28, 2019. The New York Times. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191104062501/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/george-gacon-district-attorney-los-angeles.html. November 4, 2019.
  12. News: How Chesa Boudin, a public defender who never prosecuted a case, won SF D.A. race. Knight. Heather. November 11, 2019. San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191112013614/https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/How-Chesa-Boudin-a-public-defender-who-never-14826323.php. November 12, 2019.
  13. Web site: New poll finds Chesa Boudin in the lead for San Francisco district attorney. Tulchin. Ben. O'Neil. Corey. October 18, 2019. Tulchin Research. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191117043419/https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6506570/SF-DA-Poll-Data-Report.pdf. November 17, 2019. November 17, 2019.
  14. News: Boudin savors victory after winning SF district attorney race by razor-thin lead. Yu. Betty. November 9, 2019. CBS Local. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111130935/https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/11/09/boudin-savors-victory-after-winning-sf-district-attorney-race-with-razor-thin-lead/. November 11, 2019.
  15. News: Chesa Boudin wins DA contest over Suzy Loftus. Waxmann. Laura. November 9, 2019. The San Francisco Examiner. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191111233808/https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/chesa-boudins-lead-increases-over-suzy-loftus-in-da-contest/. November 11, 2019. Sabatini. Joshua.
  16. News: Interim San Francisco DA Suzy Loftus to stay in office through early January. November 13, 2019. CBS Local. November 14, 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191114065802/https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/11/13/interim-san-francisco-da-suzy-loftus-to-stay-in-office-through-early-january/. November 14, 2019.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2019 San Francisco District Attorney election".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.