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In the race for Santa Clara County District Attorney, incumbent Jeff Rosen is poised to reign supreme for another four years. Rosen, who is running for his fifth consecutive term since he was first elected to the office in 2010, was ahead of his opponent, Daniel Chung, according to early results.
Early results showed Rosen with a significant lead on Election Day, earning 60% compared to challenger Daniel Chung’s 40%. The lead held steady throughout week, as results from all the precincts were counted, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
The 2026 election was in many ways a rehashing of the previous cycle, which pitted Rosen against Chung, a prosecutor who prior to running in 2022 was fired from Rosen’s office. Chung had written an op-ed in 2021 for the San Jose Mercury News criticizing progressive criminal justice reforms that he said create a “revolving door for repeat offenders.”
Since then, the personal feud between the two candidates has led to three lawsuits from Chung against Rosen. Rosen has also attempted twice to fire Chung, only for these decisions to be overturned by arbitrators or personnel boards who opt for limited-term suspensions instead.
In June 2022, Rosen won the special election for DA against Chung, earning around 56% of the vote to Chung’s 24%. It was the first contested election Rosen had faced since first being elected in 2010.
Now, the pair are once again facing off in a June election. Chung, who is currently deputy district attorney, has billed his campaign this cycle as tough on crime — and equally tough on corrupt officials.
His campaign website alleges that the current DA’s office maintains prosecutors who withhold evidence and sleep with witnesses. Rosen has repeatedly denied to comment on these allegations.
“Fighting for victims, fighting for fairness for defendants, making sure everybody gets a speedy hearing, a speedy trial, making sure justice is not delayed in our community — these are all things that I love fighting for,” Chung said in a campaign video.
Meanwhile, the past year of Rosen’s tenure has been colored by his prosecution of Stanford pro-Palestine protesters who allegedly broke into the university president’s house in June 2024 as part of ongoing demonstrations urging Stanford’s divestment from Israel.
Rosen initially charged 12 students with felony vandalism and conspiracy, but multiple defendants took plea or alternative deals. A jury could not reach a verdict for the remaining five students, and on Feb. 13, the judge in the case ordered a mistrial.
Immediately after the mistrial, Rosen vowed to retry the students. But Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kelley Paul last month ordered his entire office’s recusal, citing a conflict of interest.
“DA Rosen is not entitled to continue to pursue a case where he falsely describes the prosecution of the defendants as part of his fight against antisemitism while attempting to raise campaign dollars off that false description,” Defense Attorney Avi Singh wrote in court documents.
Rosen’s reelection campaign earned endorsements from several members of Congress who represent parts of Santa Clara County, as well as San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and the Palo Alto Police Officer’s Association.
By reelecting Jeff Rosen—the AIPAC-aligned DA who has no problem being photographed with wanted war criminals and uses his office to attack the civil liberties of people who do not support a particular foreign policy objective—Santa Clara County ‘liberals’ have proven yet again that there is no daylight between them and Trump’s neo-cons.
I respect Jeff Rosen and congratulate him on winning another term.