Ousted San Francisco D.A. Chesa Boudin Blames ‘Right-wing Billionaires’ for Recall

Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco district attorney who was recalled by voters Tuesday by a 60%-40% margin, blamed “right-wing billionaires” for his ouster, rather than the soaring crime rates and urban filth that made the city a national disgrace.

The rejected Boudin, the son of a convicted Weather Undergound militant, told supporters in a concession speech: “The right-wing billionaires outspent us three to one” and that his critics “took advantage” of public frustration with crime.

But San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight disagreed in a piece titled “Chesa Boudin blamed the recall on the right wing. But S.F. voters who ousted him just want a city that works.”

She wrote:

San Francisco voters who ousted District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office on Tuesday share a common trait. No, they’re not all closet conservatives conned by rich people into thwarting national criminal justice reform — despite what Boudin’s supporters have said ad nauseam, like that old Chatty Cathy doll that repeats the same phrase every time you pull her string.

They’re simply angry. Steamed. Pissed off. Tired of ideology taking precedence over real, nuts-and-bolts progress. Fed up that nothing related to city government seems to be working. Frustrated that this city with so much potential isn’t remotely living up to it. Irate that a city with so many built-in advantages — wealth, beauty, diversity, creativity, smarts — is so much less than the sum of its parts.

Local publication Mission Local documented the fact that there were wealthy donors on both sides of the recall, and that the recall was funded by both Democrats and Republicans.

Boudin’s predecessor and ideological ally, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, could soon face a similar recall effort. Opponents have gathered nearly all of the nearly 600,000 signatures they need by July 6 to force a recall, and warned after Boudin’s recall that Gascón will soon be “walking the plank.”

Across the country, left-wing billionaire George Soros has funded “progressive” prosecutors, often against incumbent Democrats, as was the case with Gascón in the 2020 election.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.