By The FirstRecently recalled San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin quit a special election race Thursday to spend more time with his family and friends.
Read his full thread below:
“Over the past weeks I’ve spoken to family, friends, supporters and everyday San Franciscans about how we can best continue to make our criminal justice system fairer and more effective. I have devoted my public life to this effort because it makes our communities stronger & safer
I’ve also taken stock of the burden that more than three years of nearly non-stop campaigning placed on my family. I’m 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.
My father faces the myriad challenges those returning from incarceration encounter: housing, healthcare, employment, and more. 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.
I am choosing to put my family first: I will not be running for office in 2022.
We made a lot of progress in a short period of time. I am particularly proud of our significant expansion of victims services, including new programs to serve our AAPI community and the appointment of the first-ever multilingual Chinese American Victim Services Chief,
our resentencing work that offered second chances to those who had caused harm and supported victims, our restorative justice work, our focus on accountability through behavioral health treatment,
our Innocence Commission’s exoneration of a wrongly-convicted man, our innovative program tackling auto burglary fencing operations, our creation of a worker protection unit, our litigation against manufacturers of ghost guns, and our historic strides in police accountability.
All that we did was only possible because of an amazing, dedicated, committed staff and base of support in the community. I am forever grateful and inspired by you!”
