On Tuesday, San Francisco voters decisively approved a recall petition to remove District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office, arguing that his progressive reforms were too mild and made the city less safe.

According to the most recent numbers from local elections officials, Boudin was trailing by roughly 20 percentage points on Tuesday evening. Approximately 60% of San Franciscans voted to remove him.

The divisive and costly recall became a referendum on some of San Francisco’s most prominent social issues, such as homelessness, property crime, and drug addiction.

Boudin was depicted as a soft-on-crime prosecutor who didn’t care about public safety during the recall effort. It also linked his criminal reform initiatives to a rash of high-profile crimes, including a deadly hit-and-run involving a parolee, a series of smash-and-grab thefts from high-end Union Square stores, and a surge of attacks on elderly Asian Americans.

According to Mary Jung, the recall campaign’s chair, voters delivered a “clear message” that they want a new district attorney who will prosecute “serious, violent, and repeat offenders accountable while never forgetting the rights of victims and their families.”

“This election does not suggest that San Francisco’s attitude to criminal justice has shifted to the far right,” Jung added. “In truth, San Francisco has long been a national example for progressive criminal justice reform, and with new leadership, it will continue to be so.”

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