Former Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins has thrown her hat in the ring to get her old job back. And she’s making no apologies for the way she left public office three years ago.

After serving as Boston’s top prosecutor from 2019 to 2022, Rollins was named U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts under former President Joe Biden. But she resigned from that high-profile federal post in 2023, amid scathing ethics allegations.

Now, Rollins says she’s decided to run for Suffolk County DA again because people in the community encouraged her to do so, and then helped collect the signatures she needed to get a spot on the September Democratic primary ballot.

Her entrance is expected to result in a bruising fight among three candidates of color whose careers have intersected before.

“The community asked me to run,” Rollins said in an interview at the WBUR studios. “They’ve been asking since I left in 2022.”

‘There were allegations against me, not findings’

At the state level, Rollins was no stranger to controversy, receiving both criticism and praise for implementing criminal justice reforms, such as collecting demographic data on prosecutions and not automatically prosecuting some non-violent crimes.

The federal job brought a different kind of controversy; Rollins left after 16 months with a stain on her reputation and allegations of misconduct. Today, however, she is defiant.

“It just defies logic that these things are actually true,” Rollins said. “There were allegations against me, not findings. That’s a big difference.”

Two lengthy federal reports released in May 2023 detailed allegations that Rollins improperly engaged in political activities while in her federal post. Department of Justice investigators cited her attendance at a political fundraiser with former first lady Jill Biden and Rollins’ attempts to influence the election to replace herself as Suffolk County DA.

The report described the violations as “egregious” and an “abuse of power.” Rollins said she had permission to attend the fundraiser and contended that she did not have the opportunity to defend herself.

“If I’m the worst that ever did it, why didn’t you fine me?” Rollins said. “If I’m the worst that ever did it, why didn’t you sue me? That’s because they would have had to prove it, and they can’t. “

Rollins resigned shortly after the reports were released. The ethics investigations were only part of the reason, she said; She’d begun to feel unsafe after receiving three death threats. The vitriol against her had intensified, she said, especially after blistering Senate confirmation hearings in 2021. The Senate narrowly confirmed her for the federal post, with then-Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie-breaking vote.

“When you ascend to the places that I have, the fall sometimes can be far. But I am back because the community has asked me to be back.”

Rachael Rollins

To the surprise of many political observers, Rollins now appears ready to fight again. She’s quick to point out that incumbent DA Kevin Hayden, her primary opponent, was fined $5,000 by the state ethics commission for a press release his office issued discrediting his opponent in the 2022 primary. That same rival, former Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, was Rollins’ preferred candidate for DA — and the person federal investigators accused Rollins of leaking information to in order to help his campaign.

“I have no state ethics violations,” Rollins said. “How can there be these allegations of unethical conduct on the federal side, and the Mass State Ethics Commission has zero ethics violations against me?” She accused Hayden of being “unethical by his own admissions,” and noted that he was fined.

Hayden countered that it’s Rollins who is untruthful. In a statement responding to Rollins’ comments, his campaign said, “The idea that she thinks the absence of a fine excuses her conduct — when federal investigators found that she engaged in the most egregious misconduct they had encountered — is ridiculous.”

Rollins did face consequences from the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, the agency that oversees attorneys in the state. The board issued a public reprimand against Rollins last year, finding that while she was U.S. attorney, she disclosed confidential information to a reporter and then lied about it. Rollins accepted the public reprimand.

Shying away from her ‘progressive’ reputation

Rollins acknowledged the political climate has changed since her 2018 DA campaign, when she received local and national attention for her reform proposals. And she’s changed her tune as well: She no longer enthusiastically embraces her reputation as one of the nation’s leading progressive prosecutors. She said “progressive” means “someone is willing to change.”

However, she stands by her record as DA, citing actions that some might call progressive, and others where she took a harder line.

For instance, years ago, she had sought a longer jail sentence for Tyler Brown, the man out on parole who was charged in last month’s Memorial Drive shooting rampage in Cambridge. Two people were seriously injured. Separately, she said as DA she filed suit against federal immigration authorities over courthouse arrests, well before it was common to take on ICE.

Rollins conceded that she must regain the trust of voters, but said she wants to continue the work she left in 2022, with some hard-earned lessons.

“You can’t go through what I went through without being humbled,” Rollins said.  “When you ascend to the places that I have, the fall sometimes can be far. But I am back because the community has asked me to be back. And we’ll see at the end of the day whether I can win or not.”

Several political experts said they anticipate a heated race, and some said they’re surprised Rollins is re-seeking public office.

“I think that she’ll subject herself to lots of people googling her and being reminded of the stuff that happened a few years ago,” said political observer and former Boston City Councilor Larry DiCara. “It’s good for democracy to have contested races, but I’m not so sure it’s good for Rachael personally.”

A third Democratic candidate for DA, attorney Linda Champion, worked in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office under Hayden and ran for the office in 2018 before losing to Rollins. She is now senior legal counsel at the Boston law firm Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane.

An official launch party for Champion’s campaign is scheduled this week. She has been endorsed by the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, which is angry with Hayden for charging a Boston police officer with manslaughter after he fatally shot a man during a traffic stop.

DiCara said turnout will certainly play a role in this race, and it may be tough to get voters’ attention for the early primary on Sept. 1.

Of the three candidates, Hayden has the most cash on hand, according to reports from the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.