Advocates back former prosecutor Phoebe Maffei in San Francisco judge race

San Francisco voters will choose between a prosecutor and a public defender for Superior Court Seat 16, a race that has become a proxy fight over how the city should handle crime, punishment and courtroom discretion.

Phoebe Maffei, a former assistant district attorney, and Alexandra Pray, a deputy public defender, are the only two candidates on the June 2, 2026 primary ballot for the open seat on the San Francisco Superior Court. The race opened after Judge Geraldo Sandoval said he was not seeking re-election, and the Department of Elections extended the declaration-of-intention period to Feb. 9, 2026 at 5 p.m. because the incumbent had not filed. Both candidates were listed as ballot-qualified in March, and if no one wins outright in the primary, the general election is set for Nov. 3, 2026.

Maffei’s supporters are presenting her as the tougher-on-crime option. Her candidate materials say she has spent more than 15 years in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, working cases that ranged from misdemeanors to homicide and assignments involving domestic violence, elder abuse, financial crimes, appeals and mental health matters. They are also pointing to her role in the state prosecution of David DePape, who broke into the Pelosi home in Pacific Heights and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Maffei and prosecutor Sean Connolly later secured a state-court conviction, and DePape was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in state court after an earlier 30-year federal sentence.

That case has given Maffei’s campaign a concrete answer to the broad claim that San Francisco judges are too lenient. Rather than relying on slogans, her backers can point to a high-profile prosecution involving burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a public official’s family member, kidnapping and witness intimidation. In a city where crime politics still shape school board races, neighborhood organizing and ballot measures, Seat 16 has become one of the clearest tests of whether voters want a judge whose résumé comes from the prosecutor’s side of the courtroom.

The San Francisco Bar Association rated both Maffei and Pray as Well-Qualified, giving voters a nonpartisan credential check rather than an ideological endorsement. The San Francisco Democratic Party has scheduled a judicial candidate debate for April 30, 2026, and said both candidates agreed to participate in what it described as the city’s only citywide judicial forum. Pro-prosecutor groups including GrowSF, ConnectedSF, Blueprint SF and some neighborhood Democratic clubs have lined up behind Maffei, underscoring how unusually organized the contest has become for a local judgeship.