San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has lost his bid for re-election after he emerged as a symbol of the city’s broken “sanctuary city” policies–and general incompetence.
Mirkarimi had also been troubled by a domestic violence charge and calls from Mayor Ed Lee to step down before a five-time deported, seven-time convicted felon illegal alien confessed to killing a young woman, Kate Steinle, in July.
Challenger and retired sheriff’s chief deputy Vicki Hennessy had 62.53 per cent of the vote to Mirkarimi’s 31.11 per cent with 20.32 per cent of ballots recorded and posted on Tuesday evening. (Update: With 100% of precincts reporting, Hennessy had 61.09% to Mirkarimi’s 32.9%.)
Hennessy garnered the support of many prominent Democratic elected officials and unions, including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Mayor Ed Lee, the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association, and a number of other labor unions and community organizations.
But those voters thinking Hennessy might oppose sanctuary city policies may have to think again.
“I am running for Sheriff to safeguard San Francisco’s Sanctuary Ordinance and protect the rights of all immigrants, while keeping the city safe for all residents,” she stated on her website.
Mirkarimi was charged with domestic violence after an altercation with his wife in 2011. Later pleading to false imprisonment, the Sheriff worked to have his criminal record expunged around the time Steinle’s future killer, illegal alien Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, was released from jail.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department had recalled Lopez-Sanchez on an old warrant for marijuana possession that Mirkarimi later explained is almost never prosecuted in his city.
Lopez-Sanchez was released despite a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold request. A mere two-and-a-half months, later Lopez-Sanchez would–by his own confession–shoot and kill Steinle at a San Francisco pier. Mirkarimi later defended the decision to release Lopez-Sanchez. He also called 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump an “opportunist.”
As a result of Mirkarimi’s false imprisonment conviction, he has been barred from carrying a firearm despite his position as sheriff. He also had his driver’s license suspended earlier this year for failing to report a traffic accident.
Most recently, he failed a firearms test, and was accused of re-assigning the range master to a jailhouse job.
Mayor Lee, meanwhile, won re-election easily, with 61.37 per cent of the vote in the same initial election results posted Tuesday night. (Update: Lee’s Final tally was 56.7%.)fFollow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana