Live Updates California Elections Bay Area Elections Presidential Election

Superior Court Judge, Seat 13

Candidate with majority vote wins seat. If no candidate reaches majority, top two candidates advance to runoff in general election.

Patrick S. Thompson(incumbent)55.5%

112,374 votes

Jean Myungjin Roland44.4%

90,012 votes

Updated at 6:50 PM PT on March 21, 2024
San Francisco County

Why does this race matter?

Superior Court judicial seats are rarely contested. But recently, some politicians and city residents have called for judges to hand down harsher sentences for fentanyl drug dealing and other crimes such as burglary and theft, spurring a challenge for two seats.

What does a Superior Court judge do?

Superior Court judges oversee criminal and civil trials in their county. Judges hear evidence and render verdicts and sentences, or preside over jury trials. Judges are required to have passed the bar or served as a judge for ten years before the election. The winner of this election will serve a six-year term.

Candidates

Jean Myungjin RolandAssistant District Attorney

Patrick ThompsonSuperior Court Judge

Key Supporters

For Roland

Ed Lee Democratic Club
Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club
Stop Crime Action
United Democratic Club
Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club

For Thompson

Willie Brown, former mayor, San Francisco
Scott Wiener, state senator
The San Francisco Democratic Party
The Harvey Milk LGTBQ Democratic Club
The San Francisco Women’s Political Committee

Positions on Key Issues

What are your strongest qualifications to serve as an SF Superior Court Judge?

Roland touts her 22 years of experience as a veteran prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. Her background includes prosecuting misdemeanor, domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault cases. She’s currently the head of the DA’s General Felony Trial Unit, where she oversees “the majority of felony crimes coming through San Francisco.”

Thompson points to the three decades he’s worked in civil litigation “at top law firms.” He’s served on various boards, including the California Pacific Medical Center, Grace Cathedral, and American Conservatory Theater. In 2022, Thompson was appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court, a process he notes included interviews with hundreds of colleagues to vet his character and knowledge. He calls himself a “by-the-book judge.”

People of color have long been disproportionately harmed by the criminal justice system. How would you — or do you — address social equity in your work on the court?

Roland says to address inequities, “It’s important that as a victim of crime, that their voices are heard.” When she was in college, Roland recalls how her grandparents were burglarized in their Sunset District home. Though they survived, Roland says her grandparents could not communicate with police as monolingual Korean speakers. Roland translated, and counts it as a transformative moment sparking her need to pursue criminal justice.

Thompson says judges are not legislators who craft laws to protect certain classes of people. “I can’t define policy.” But he does bring perspective as a Black American growing up in a family that integrated their neighborhood, he says. “I bring sensibility to these issues, whether they are a victim of a crime, or whether it is a Black man who is accused as a criminal defendant. It’s treating those people with respect and dignity.”

Judges are tasked with applying the law, and they utilize their discretion in specific situations like sentencing. What should a judge’s thought process be when using discretion in a criminal court?

Roland says judges need to look at “the least restrictive measures” in order to consider custody of a suspect during an arraignment phase, usually a suspect’s first appearance in court. Also, “public safety is something that they should be looking at when making those decisions,” she says, including whether or not a defendant is a flight risk.

Thompson believes judges’ discretion can range from sentencing to how you run a courtroom. “I don’t want to coddle defense lawyers or prosecutors, I don’t want to coddle defendants.” Even when attorneys come to a deal over the future of a defendant, “It's my job independently to test whether that deal is really good for the public and public safety, and whether it's fair to the victim and whether it's also fair to the defendant.”

Should judges’ courtroom decisions reflect public opinion? Please explain your reasoning.

Roland says a judge’s role is to follow the law. “I do not think that public opinion should be a factor or a consideration by a judge.” However, she believes public sentiment demanding more public safety in San Francisco is not opinion, as “public safety is universal.” Roland says, “Public safety is something that judges should be looking at every time they're making decisions, because their decisions are impacting every single person in this community.”

Thompson says judges’ decisions should be guided by the law. He believes judges strayed from that ideal in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that maintained racist Jim Crow laws under the idea of “separate but equal.” Those judges “substituted their views based on quelling concerns” from the public. “That was not corrected for almost 100 years.” He says the idea that judges should respond to a political atmosphere “is concerning.”

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is among the people who have accused judges of inappropriately releasing people, particularly alleged fentanyl dealers, after their arrests. Do you share the view that fentanyl dealers have been inappropriately released by Superior Court judges? Please explain your reasoning.

Roland says she could not directly answer this question due to state ethics rules that limit what judicial candidates can say about how they’d rule from the bench, for fear of tainting the process. Roland says, “In general when we have fentanyl dealers who are repeatedly being released, then we need to take a look at what we’re doing. And perhaps that means taking a different tactic.”

Thompson says while he understands fentanyl is a “scourge of the city,” it’s not separated into another legal category for harsher punishments, like murder. “I understand that it’s a genuine public safety issue. I understand that it’s also much more serious in terms of the impact on users than other opiates,” but he is bound to enforce existing law. If voters want harsher penalties, he says, they need to change the law.

More San Francisco County Key Races

U.S. House of Representatives, District 11

Top two candidates advance to general election.

Nancy Pelosi (D)(incumbent)73.2%

138,285 votes

Bruce Lou (R)8.6%

16,285 votes

Marjorie Mikels (D)4.9%

9,363 votes

Race called at 5:31 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated Press

U.S. House of Representatives, District 15

Top two candidates advance to general election.

Anna Kramer (R)

Kevin Mullin (D)(incumbent)

Race called at 8:00 PM PT on March 5, 2024
Associated Press

State Senate, District 11

Top two candidates advance to general election.

Scott Wiener (D)(incumbent)72.9%

166,592 votes

Yvette Corkrean (R)15%

34,438 votes

Cynthia Cravens (D)8.1%

18,513 votes

Race called at 7:01 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated Press

State Assembly, District 17

Top two candidates advance to general election.

Matt Haney (D)(incumbent)81.9%

90,915 votes

Manuel Noris-Barrera (R)12.4%

13,843 votes

Otto Duke (D)5.6%

6,245 votes

Race called at 5:36 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated Press

State Assembly, District 19

Top two candidates advance to general election.

Catherine Stefani (D)57%

64,960 votes

David Lee (D)28.9%

33,035 votes

Nadia Flamenco (R)7.3%

8,335 votes

Race called at 4:50 PM PT on March 11, 2024
99% of votes countedAssociated Press