S.F. judges survive challenges from tough-on-crime foes
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Patrick Thompson has won a six-year term, the second of two judges in the city to survive challenges in Tuesday’s election from opponents who accused them of being soft on crime.
With a majority of the ballots counted, Thompson had 55.6% of the votes to 44.4% for Deputy District Attorney Jean Myungjin Roland. Superior Court Judge Michael Begert had already been declared the winner over attorney Albert “Chip” Zecher, with more than 61% of the vote.
Thompson was appointed to the court by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022 after 30 years of civil law practice. He is a former board chairman of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Roland has been a prosecutor for 22 years and is a managing attorney for lawyers prosecuting felony cases in the office of District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
“We are glad that San Francisco voters have rejected a hostile attempt to inject politics into the judiciary and stood up for qualified and competent judges,” Jack Shelley, Thompson’s campaign manager, said Friday.
Stop Crime Action, a nonprofit group supporting the challengers, accused both incumbent judges of releasing dangerous criminals to the streets.
But Thompson, who presides over preliminary hearings to determine whether criminal cases should go to trial, said court records showed that prosecutors in Jenkins’ office had agreed to the releases of defendants he freed while awaiting trial. Begert, who does not hear criminal cases, provided similar records indicating that prosecutors had consented to transfer defendants to his court for referral to treatment for mental illness and drug addiction.
The challengers have reported raising $980,000 for their campaigns, more than twice as much as the incumbents raised and a record for judicial elections in San Francisco.