San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced his resignation from office Thursday, and was expected to explore a campaign to unseat Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, according to officials familiar with the decision.
Gascon sent a letter to his staff, saying in part he has "decided it's time for me to move on to a new opportunity."
The letter goes on to say he and his wife will return to Los Angeles to rejoin family there and "explore a run for District Attorney," according to NBCbayarea.com.
Gascon, 65, is the former San Francisco Police Department chief and a former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. He served as chief of the Mesa, Arizona Police Department from 2006 to 2009.
He told the San Francisco Chronicle in August, "absolutely, yes," he'd want to run for DA in LA, a prosecutor's office he said was "stuck in the 1980s."
Gascon has supported a series of justice system reforms, including 2014's Proposition 47, which reclassified a number of felonies as misdemeanors and has been blamed for a role in increases in property crime.
He's advocated for eliminating the state's cash bail system and for clearing past convictions for those caught with small amounts of marijuana.
