The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the government agency responsible for prosecuting crimes in San Francisco, California, United States, under California state law. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to higher elected offices, including governor of California, United States senator, and vice president of the United States.
History After the state Consolidation Act of 1856 consolidated San Francisco as a city and county, Henry H. Byrne was elected as the first district attorney. Twenty-seven people have held the title since Byrne.
Kamala D. Harris (2004–2011)
On January 8, 2004, Kamala Harris became the first female, first Jamaican American, and first Indian American district attorney of San Francisco after having defeated Terence Hallinan. She was the first Indian American district attorney in the United States, and the first Jamaican American district attorney in California. Harris was re-elected in 2007 running unopposed. Subsequently, Harris became Attorney General of California in 2011, U.S. Senator in 2017, Vice President of the United States in 2021, and lost the 2024 United States presidential election to Donald Trump.
George Gascón (2011–2019) On January 9, 2011, Gavin Newsom appointed SFPD Chief George Gascón as district attorney to succeed Kamala Harris, who had been elected California attorney general in the November 2010 election. Gascón was subsequently elected in his own right in in November 2011. On October 2, 2018, Gascón announced that he would not seek re-election, citing his mother's health. On October 3, 2019, Gascón announced that he would resign as district attorney on October 18 in order to explore a run for Los Angeles district attorney.
2019 district attorney election
After Gascón announced in 2018 that he would not seek re-election, San Francisco anticipated its first open race for district attorney since 1909, with candidates Chesa Boudin, Leif Dautch, Suzy Loftus, and Nancy Tung entering the race. After Gascón announced his resignation in October 2019 prior to the November 2019 election, Mayor London Breed appointed candidate Suzy Loftus as interim district attorney, whom Breed had endorsed in the November 2019 election. Loftus served as interim district attorney from October 19, 2019, until January 8, 2020, when winning candidate Boudin took office.
Chesa Boudin (2020–2022) Chesa Boudin was sworn in as district attorney on January 8, 2020. Heavily criticized for criminal justice reform policies, Boudin was the subject of a recall election on June 7, 2022. In the recall election, 55.05% of voters supported removing him from office. Mayor London Breed, who had backed a more moderate Democrat in the 2019 district attorney race, named Brooke Jenkins, a former corporate lawyer and prosecutor in the district attorney's office, as Boudin's replacement.
List of San Francisco district attorneys District attorney Tenure 1856 1857 1858–1861 1861–1868 1868–1872 1872–1874 1874–1876 1876–1880 1880–1882 1882 1883–1885 1885–1887 1887–1889 1889–1891 1891–1898 1899–1900 1900–1905 1906–1910 1910–1920 1920–1944 1944–1951 1951–1964 1964–1976 1976–1980 1980–1996 1996–2004 2004–2011 2011–2019 (interim)2019–2020 2020–2022 2022–present
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