CORRECTION: The original version of this story stated that Joe Alioto Veronese’s mother, Angela, ran for San Francisco mayor twice. In fact, she ran four times.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Joe Alioto Veronese — a civil rights attorney and former police and fire commissioner, and bearer of a famous name in city politics — pulled papers to run for district attorney at City Hall on Wednesday against newly-appointed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Jenkins, who has been in office less than a month, was appointed to the position by Mayor London Breed to fill the vacancy created when District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was elected in 2019, was recalled last June. A special election this November will decide whether Jenkins will fill the remainder of Boudin’s term, which ends in January 2024. (Another election, in November 2023, will fill the DA term for 2024-2028.)
Before her appointment, Jenkins had been the public face of the Boudin recall effort after resigning her job as an assistant district attorney in 2021. Boudin has not announced if he will run in either election; Alioto Veronese had previously said he intended to run in November 2023.
“San Francisco’s turnaround starts today,” Alioto Veronese stated to KRON4 News. “The DA’s office needs to have one focus: fighting crime in San Francisco. The DA shouldn’t be focused on ribbon cutting ceremonies, protecting the mayor or conducting social experiments on the people of San Francisco. Our DA’s office will do one job: equitably and fairly prosecute the criminals preying on San Francisco. We will make our streets safe again.”
Jenkins’ communications team did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. Jenkins was busy this morning announcing that she has revoked more than 30 pending plea deals offered to suspected fentanyl dealers.
Alioto Veronese, 49, is owner of the Alioto Law Group. He has served as a California criminal justice commissioner, a San Francisco police and fire commissioner and worked in the DA’s office before during the tenure of Terence Hallinan.
His grandfather, the mayor of San Francisco from 1968 to 1976, was on the shortlist for the vice presidential nomination at the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention. His mother Angela Alioto Veronese, was a city supervisor from 1989 to 1997 (when supervisor was an at-large position, not elected by district as it is today). For one term, from 1993 to 1995, she was president of the board.
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Angela Alioto tried to follow in her father’s footsteps four times: first in 1991, winning 18.5% of the vote in the first round of voting in the race when Frank Jordan unseated Art Agnos, then in 1995, winning 0.64% in the first round of voting in the race when Willie Brown unseated Jordan.
She was more successful in 2003, winning 16% of the vote in the first round of that year’s race, and coming in third place behind then-Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez and future Mayor Gavin Newsom; and winning 6.9% of the vote in the first round of the 2018 special mayoral election, in which she came in last behind then-Supervisor Jane Kim, former state Senator Mark Leno, and current Mayor London Breed.
The Alioto political family are cousins of the former owners of the now-shuttered Alioto’s Restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf, which announced its permanent closure earlier this year.
