Boudin's Loudest Critic Seeks Supervisor Seat in San Francisco's Sunset District

Chesa Boudin may be out of office, but the recall campaign that removed him is still shaping San Francisco politics. One of his most vocal opponents, public safety activist Leanna Louie, is now running for office to test whether the city's frustration with Boudin can translate into support for a confrontational, law-and-order candidate.

Louie is on the November ballot for District 4, which covers much of the Sunset neighborhood. She was born in a farming village in China and moved to San Francisco at age 7. She attended public school and later enlisted in the army. A single mother, she earned $35,000 last year from a small business selling hand sanitizer and from payments by the Boudin recall committee. She stands in sharp contrast to the Ivy League-educated Boudin.

Her campaign style is blunt and unapologetically pro-incarceration. In a tweet to new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, she wrote, "Go get them!" and added that "Leanna's Army got your back." She faces two rivals who fit the City Hall mold more comfortably: incumbent Gordon Mar and public safety advocate Joel Engardio.

Critics have questioned whether Louie really lives in the district. She lived for many years in the Bayview and only recently moved to a rented room in the Sunset. Louie says she moved there in August 2021 and plans to stay long term.

Tensions peaked during an endorsement interview with the local Democratic County Central Committee. Party official Gloria Berry accused Louie of saying that "Black people were evil" and said Louie's allies went around "yelling at babies and children and saying the streets aren't safe." Louie denied the remark, saying she has lived in Bayview since she was 16 and that she has Black friends and a Black former boyfriend. On Tuesday, she posted a letter on Twitter demanding an apology from Berry and describing the accusation as anti-Asian hostility.

Berry, a Boudin supporter, later told The Standard that Louie made the comment at a Bayview community event last year, after Berry said Boudin's policies would bring justice to many Black men. By Berry's account, Louie replied that most Black people who go to jail are evil, which differs from the broader statement Berry made in the interview. Berry apologized at a later committee meeting for how she phrased the allegation but did not retract it. Louie says there is "zero evidence" she said such a thing.

Louie's activism began during the pandemic, when she and her fiance grew worried about crime and vandalism and began patrolling Chinatown in their truck, seven days a week for a year. The effort became the United Peace Collaborative, which now has 60 uniformed volunteers. She turned against Boudin after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, saying police were stretched thin by looting and that officers told her group Boudin had demanded looters be released. After pedestrian Hanako Abe was killed by a repeat offender, she began organizing protests, often appearing at his events with a bullhorn and a few dozen Asian demonstrators.

Berry called the energy of those protests "vile" and questioned whether the city wants such a person in office. Louie was unmoved, pointing to attacks on Hanako Abe and Rong Xin Liao. "You think us protesting is too much? That's protecting our freedom of speech," she said.

Some in the Sunset, whose residents are largely Asian, appear receptive. Asian voters overwhelmingly backed this year's school board and district attorney recalls and are increasingly acting as a bloc against progressive politicians. Campaign manager Will Lee, a small business owner who met Louie at a rally for Vicha Ratanapakdee, said, "This is what SF wants." Political analyst David Latterman was skeptical, saying "angry populism doesn't work in SF" and that her approach appeals only to a limited subset of voters.