By Lois Yoo
SAN JOSE, CA – Santa Clara County Public Defender Sajid Khan has been formally endorsed by former Congressman Mike Honda for Santa Clara County District Attorney in 2022.
Khan will be going up against current District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who has already served numerous consecutive terms. Rosen has gone unopposed as District Attorney ever since after the 2010 election.
Former Congressman Honda’s shared experience serving the LGBT and Asian Pacific American communities links him to Khan, a longtime civil rights advocate.
In his own words, former Congressman Honda backed Khan 100 percent, noting:
“Sajid Khan is a leader committed to making sure the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office takes a leading role when it comes to criminal justice reform. “By ending indiscriminate prosecutions, focusing on rehabilitation and taking a compassionate approach, Sajid will fight to make our criminal justice system reflect true justice. I am proud to support his campaign.”
Khan responded to Honda’s endorsement by referring to him as “a leader in California’s AAPI community, and I vow to help continue the fight for the dignity and safety of all people as Santa Clara District Attorney.”
Khan believes “the community is ripe and ready for the reforms that I want to implement.”
Khan notes, “many people saw in me the person to challenge our current district attorney’s office and lead our DA’s office in this new direction of safety, justice, and dignity for all people.”
Khan has served as a public defender in the county for 13 years. His work has been centered around mass incarceration and fighting against systemic racism in the legal system.
While his parents are Muslim immigrants from India, Khan was born in San Jose.
“I am running for Santa Clara County District Attorney to ensure the safety and dignity of all people in the place I’ve called home my entire life. Instead of measuring public safety by prison terms, I will fight mass incarceration and address the root causes of crime to alleviate suffering and heal our community,” he said.
He added, “As District Attorney, I will honor victims of crimes, hold police accountable when they violate the law, tell the truth about and undo systemic racism, manifest Black Lives Matter, and bring our criminal legal system in line with basic notions of justice and humanity.”
“I will pursue this approach before and at filing, during case settlement discussions, and after trial. No one will be overcharged, coerced into pleas, or receive a harsher sentence recommendation because they exercise their right to trial by jury,” Khan promised.
Khan’s platform priorities include fighting for racial justice and ending mass incarceration, and dismantling the school to prison pipeline while keeping families together. He hopes to put an ultimate stop on prosecuting children as adults in the legal system. He wants to take police officers out of schools for the safety and wellbeing of children.
“I’m rooted here in this community, I know this community, I’m invested here, and I want to ensure dignity and safety for all the people and all 15 cities of this two million-person county,” said Khan.
Public defender Khan and his progressive service has had strong support from other platforms such as Sunrise Silicon Valley, the Real Justice PAC, and retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell.
