Santa Clara County District Attorney
✦ AI Race Summary
The only contested countywide race on the ballot. Fifteen-year incumbent Jeff Rosen, first elected in 2010, faces a primary challenge from Daniel Chung, a deputy DA in his own office who has been on paid administrative leave since 2021 after a workplace dispute that began when Chung wrote an opinion piece critical of Rosen. The race rehashes a 2022 contest Rosen won outright in the primary; the central frame is whether Santa Clara County wants continuity on a more traditional, prosecution-first model (Rosen) or what Chung describes as a more victim-focused, harder-edged approach.
Candidates · sorted by endorsements
Elected DA in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, 2018, and 2022. Rosen has built one of the larger and more institutionally stable DA offices in the state, defeating a progressive challenger outright in the 2022 primary. He is broadly aligned with traditional public-safety prosecution while maintaining specialized units on hate crimes, environmental crime, and conviction integrity. Endorsed by most law-enforcement and judicial groups in the county; his wife, Judge Amber Rosen, is one of the 28 sitting Superior Court judges up for unopposed re-election on the same ballot.
BAJC-Action · Endorsed
Hindu United Vote · Endorsed
Deputy DA in the Santa Clara County DA's office. Suspended for a week in 2021 after Rosen alleged Chung used his county laptop and email to submit a 2021 opinion piece critical of Rosen's response to anti-Asian hate crime; reassigned off criminal cases and later placed on paid administrative leave, where he has remained as of early 2026. Ran against Rosen in 2022 and finished a distant second. Frames the race as a referendum on Rosen's handling of his office, including the cost of keeping Chung on paid leave.