Jeff Rosen ahead in Santa Clara County DA race

In the race for Santa Clara County District Attorney, incumbent Jeff Rosen holds a lead in his bid to reign supreme for another four years. Early results show Rosen, who is running for his fifth consecutive term since he was first elected to the office in 2010, is ahead of his opponent Daniel Chung.

As of Wednesday morning, the county had reported 19% of votes, most of them mail-in ballots. Rosen maintained a significant lead in these early returns, earning 60% compared to challenger Daniel Chung’s 40%.

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 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 about 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 Officers’ Association.

The next round of election results will be released by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

This story will be updated.

This story originally appeared in Palo Alto Weekly. Riley Cooke is a reporter at Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Online focusing on city government.