{"slug": "jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da", "title": "Jeff Rosen appears headed for fifth term as Santa Clara County DA", "summary": "Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen held a commanding 60.1% to 39.8% lead over challenger Daniel Chung in Tuesday's primary election, positioning him to secure a fifth term without a November runoff. Rosen, backed by police unions and most regional elected leaders, appeared poised to avoid a runoff if his lead holds above 50%, as county contests can be decided outright in the primary. The race pitted Rosen, who has led the largest DA's office in Northern California and championed red-flag laws and fentanyl-related charges, against Chung, a former prosecutor who turned years of internal conflict with Rosen into a second campaign to unseat him.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...SAN JOSE — Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen appeared headed for a fifth term Tuesday night, holding a commanding early lead over Daniel Chung, [the employee-turned-critic](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/03/santa-clara-county-da-race-pits-rosen-against-former-prosecutor-turned-critic/) who turned years of internal conflict with Rosen into a second campaign to unseat him.\n\nRosen, who was backed by police and public safety unions and the vast majority of prominent elected leaders in the region, had garnered 60.1% of the county’s vote as of 10:13 p.m. Tuesday night — representing 19.3% of the potential vote total — versus Chung’s 39.8% share.\n\nIf Rosen’s lead holds above 50%, he will avoid a November runoff. Unlike statewide races in California, county contests can be decided outright in the primary when a candidate wins a majority.\n\nIn a statement sent to campaign supporters Tuesday night, Rosen thanked his family, staff and endorsers.\n\n“I will continue to be a strong and loud voice for public safety, for police officers and investigators, for prosecutors, for crime victim advocates and for criminalists,” he said in the statement. “Public safety is priceless and I will protect it and our residents like a lioness guards her cubs.”\n\nRosen has spent most of his prosecutorial career running the largest district attorney’s office in Northern California. Under his leadership, the office has become a [state leader for its use of red-flag laws](https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/12/gun-violence-restraining-orders-california-law/) and championed the escalation of charges against [reputed fentanyl dealers linked to fatal overdoses](https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/07/18/baby-phoenix-fentanyl-death-da-ups-infant-overdose-charges-against-dad-alleged-dealer-to-murder/) and parents whose neglect is alleged to have caused a child’s death. Last month, Rosen’s office [secured the county’s first-ever murder verdict against parents](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/08/baby-winter-rayo-fentanyl-death-san-jose-verdict/) whose child died from fentanyl exposure and ingestion due to their recklessness.\n\nChung, whose latest electoral run was seeded when [he was a surprise runner-up](https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/06/07/santa-clara-county-jeff-rosen-headed-for-re-election-as-district-attorney/) in a three-candidate 2022 primary — which Rosen won outright — did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.\n\nHe was once a rising prosecutor in Rosen’s office, and that changed most visibly in 2021 after Chung wrote [an opinion piece published in The Mercury News](https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/19/asian-prosecutor-says-santa-clara-county-da-punished-him-after-op-ed/) criticizing criminal justice reforms. But he did not run it by his chain of command, and combined with other internal disputes, Rosen over the years twice moved to fire Chung.\n\nWhat has unfolded is a yearslong legal and political clash in which Chung has pursued [free-speech litigation](https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/09/29/free-speech-lawsuit-tossed-bay-area-da/) and was [reinstated in arbitration](https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/02/20/santa-clara-da-sued-over-disputed-reinstatement-of-ousted-prosecutor/), so he technically remains employed as a county prosecutor. But that was not without some cost: Rosen has banned him from trying cases or working for the office, creating an extraordinary scenario where Chung was free to devote his time to build a grass-roots support network and prepare his second run for office.\n\nChung sought to galvanize Rosen’s critics with strategies including amplifying unfavorable outcomes like the [recent forced recusal of the DA’s office](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/17/how-the-stanford-protest-case-got-santa-clara-countys-da-removed-from-the-prosecution/) from the prospective retrial of a group of pro-Palestinian activists [charged with vandalizing offices at Stanford University.\nBut ultimately, the support for Rosen — through his prolific high-profile endorsements and corresponding fundraising advantage — along with the historical strength of incumbency in this countywide office, appear to have carried him to re-election.\n](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/13/stanford-felony-vandalism-trial-mistrial/)\n\n*This is a developing story. Check back for updates.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/02/santa-clara-county-district-attorney-election-jeff-rosen/", "published_at": "2026-06-03 04:33:34+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-03 05:27:52.130653+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Jeff Rosen", "Daniel Chung", "Santa Clara County"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da.jsonld"}}