Recalled San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin could continue enforcing his soft-on-crime, progressive policies for weeks despite the decisive vote to oust him from office.
Boudin can’t be removed until 10 days after the city Board of Supervisors certifies Tuesday’s recall election, which he lost by about 20 points, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
City Elections Director said Wednesday that about 100,000 ballots remain uncounted and that he expected the tally to be certified by the end of the month, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
Boudin, 41, didn’t say if he planned to step down early during a concession speech in which he blamed the vote against him on “right-wing billionaires” who “outspent us 3-to-1,” and spokespeople for his office and campaign didn’t immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
The situation raises the possibility that Boudin will remain in office during the start of a potentially hot and violent summer in San Francisco, where multiple protest rallies are routinely held each weekend.
In 2020, Mayor London Breed ordered a city curfew after riots erupted during demonstrations against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with high-end stores looted and vandalized in the Union Square shopping and dining district.
While speaking to reporters Wednesday, Breed — who vowed last year that cops would be “less tolerant of all the bulls–t that has destroyed our city” — refused to reveal how she voted on the recall and said she hadn’t decided who to name as Boudin’s interim replacement.
“In making this decision, I’ve already started talking to people in the community,” she said, according to NBC Bay Area.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of people: judges, lawyers, community members, people who I grew up with who went to jail for things they never did.”
Breed’s office reportedly said the appointment might not come until early July.
A special election will be held in November for the remainder of Boudin’s term, which ends in 2024.