Los Ange­les axes Soros-backed pro­gres­sive dis­trict attor­ney

Posted in Economy  •  Published by
Los Angeles axes Soros-backed progressive district attorney

In a sig­nif­i­cant polit­i­cal shift for Los Ange­les, Dis­trict Attor­ney George Gas­con lost his reelec­tion bid to for­mer U.S. Assis­tant Attor­ney Gen­er­al Nathan Hochman.

Hochman, a for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor and 2022 Repub­li­can can­di­date for Cal­i­for­nia Attor­ney Gen­er­al, cen­tered his cam­paign on a tough-on-crime plat­form, direct­ly chal­leng­ing Gascón’s pro­gres­sive poli­cies. His vic­to­ry reflects grow­ing vot­er con­cern over pub­lic safe­ty and dis­sat­is­fac­tion with Gascón’s approach to crim­i­nal jus­tice reform.

For­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor Nathan Hochman is run­ning to unseat George Gas­con for Los Ange­les Dis­trict Attor­ney. (Asso­ci­at­ed Press)

Gascón, who has held the posi­tion since 2020, has faced crit­i­cism for his pro­gres­sive poli­cies, which some say have con­tributed to a rise in crime across the coun­ty. His loss also coin­cid­ed with California’s sweep­ing pas­sage of Propo­si­tion 36, an ini­tia­tive that will enact harsh­er penal­ties for theft and drug offens­es and undo parts of a 2014 law that down­grad­ed sev­er­al non-vio­lent felonies to mis­de­meanors.

Propo­si­tion received 70% sup­port while 29.5% vot­ed against it, with about half the bal­lots count­ed.

Despite two failed recall attempts, Gascón defend­ed his record, high­light­ing his office’s pros­e­cu­tion of seri­ous crimes and argu­ing that over­all crime trends are improv­ing. He main­tained that his poli­cies reflect a com­mit­ment to long-term pub­lic safe­ty, with a focus on reha­bil­i­ta­tion over incar­cer­a­tion.

But Hochman’s cam­paign gained sub­stan­tial momen­tum through­out the elec­tion cycle, evi­denced by his record-break­ing fundrais­ing efforts, amass­ing near­ly $4 mil­lion by mid-Sep­tem­ber.

In con­trast, Gas­con, who pre­vi­ous­ly received $2.5 mil­lion from bil­lion­aire George Soros in 2020, raised approx­i­mate­ly $700,000 in the same peri­od.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Hochman’s sup­port base includ­ed vot­ers who believed that Gascón’s lenient stance on pros­e­cut­ing mis­de­meanors and oth­er offens­es con­tributed to ris­ing crime rates and dimin­ished pub­lic safe­ty in Los Ange­les.

Although he ran a failed cam­paign for attor­ney gen­er­al, Hochman still endorsed Demo­c­ra­t­ic Vice Pres­i­dent Kamala Har­ris for the gen­er­al elec­tion, and he pre­vi­ous­ly chose not to vote for Trump in the past despite being a mem­ber of the same par­ty.