Whether or not you voted for the recall of Chesa Boudin, we think you should vote for Brooke Jenkins.

Since taking office as San Francisco's appointed District Attorney, Jenkins has followed through on her promises to prioritize the prosecution of anti-Asian hate crimes and dealers of deadly drugs.

Nearly two people are dying every day of drug overdoses, and this impact falls disproportionately on the poor and homeless. Regardless of your position on personal drug use, it's clear that what's happening on our streets right now is inhumane. We want people who are addicted to get the help they need, whether that be safe injection sites with on-site medical care, or even drug addiction recovery programs that require full abstinence. Everyone's journey to recovery is different and San Francisco needs to help. But part of helping is getting the deadliest drugs off the streets and arresting and charging dealers who clearly don't care that their product is killing people.

We don't want addicts to go to jail, and neither does Brooke Jenkins. Since assuming office, she has filed felony drug sale charges against 125 alleged dealers — not users. And she has repeatedly said that users need supportive services:

"Helping substance users access treatment and services through the Community Justice Center will save lives," said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. "When someone reaches five citations for public drug use, that is a clear signal that they are in a crisis and need support.

[...]

The Community Justice Center is a unique court that works to connect the community to the criminal justice system and addresses issues that have led to a participant's criminal justice involvement. The court prioritizes the use of restorative justice and treatment services for substance use, mental health, and other primary health issues and adjudicates criminal cases from the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Union Square, and South of Market neighborhoods."

— The District Attorney's Office

Jenkins is also taking anti-Asian hate crimes more seriously than her predecessor. Mary Jung, the former chairwoman of the San Francisco Democratic Party and a Chinese-American woman, highlighted the Asian-American community's real concerns with hate crimes under Boudin:

[Boudin's] failure has directly resulted in increased crime against Asian Americans. The number of anti-Asian crimes has increased six-fold, but [Boudin] is refusing to prosecute violent attacks as hate crimes and has allowed perpetrators to get away with only misdemeanor charges.

— City Journal

GrowSF admires Jenkins' dedication to the Asian-American community and her efforts to treat anti-Asian hate crimes with the serious attention they deserve.

You’ve been struggling with feeling unheard and unseen ... by the San Francisco D.A.’s Office.

You are now seen, and you are now heard.

— District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in the SF Chronicle

GrowSF heartily endorses Jenkins for District Attorney based on her policies alone. But it is also worth highlighting that her main opponent, John Hamasaki, holds views that are anathema to a safe city.

Among positions like supporting "defund the police", Hamasaki has also repeatedly advocated for young men to carry concealed weapons in dangerous neighborhoods:

This opinion resulted in many of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to call for Hamasaki's resignation from the Police Commission (yes, someone who wants to defund the police was overseeing police...). Hamasaki did eventually step down from the Police Commission, but what isn't mentioned is that his appointment term expired and no one in City Hall showed any interest in renewing it.

Shortly before announcing his run for office, Hamasaki deleted over 8,000 tweets in an attempt to cover up his prior statements and beliefs. These tweets include rampant bullying, making fun of the victims of crime, and at least one where he called Ukrainians defending their country "neo-nazis". Someone has even gone to the trouble of making a searchable archive of John Hamasaki's deleted tweets.

But beyond all of these bad opinions, John Hamasaki also wants to defund the prosecutors in the District Attorney's office. We don't think someone who wants to shut down the DA's office should be in charge of running it.

Brooke Jenkins is the only candidate with a plan to make San Francisco safer, treat victims with respect, and to hold criminals accountable for their actions.