Gascón, Hochman jump out to early leads in hotly contested L.A. County D.A. race
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón and former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman jumped out to early leads in a crowded field of candidates vying to be the county’s top prosecutor.
As of 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Gascón led the pack with 21.4% of the vote, followed by Hochman with 17.7%. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jonathan Hatami, a longtime thorn in Gascón’s side who is popular with victims rights advocates, was the only other candidate to break into the double digits, earning 13.4% of the early returns.
Although polls show Gascón has grown deeply unpopular with a significant portion of L.A. County residents, polls and local political observers long suggested that his strong progressive base would carry him out of a crowded primary field replete with challengers who spent more time attacking him than they did defining their own candidacies.
Four years after taking office on a popular criminal justice reform platform in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Gascón found himself facing a different political landscape in this primary cycle. Multiple polls showed the incumbent with a disapproval rating of more than 50%, and a mix of frustrations with his policies and his perceived vulnerability led 11 candidates to challenge him.
“We’ve already learned that about three-quarters of residents of L.A. County have rejected George Gascón,” Hochman said to booming cheers during a speech given at the Luxe Hotel in Brentwood. “These are people who are afraid.”
Gascón spent the early evening fielding questions from reporters in Grand Park in the shadow of the downtown criminal courthouse. While Gascón’s share of the vote was low for an incumbent, his campaign expressed happiness with early returns.
“Now, we have a clear Democrat vs. Republican choice going into November, which we’re very optimistic about,” the campaign said in a statement Wednesday.
Although Hochman declared as in independent, he ran for statewide office as a Republican in 2022 and has worked with fundraisers who previously raised money for President Trump’s 2020 campaign. Hochman has repeatedly dismissed any notion of partisanship in the D.A.’s race.
Gascón has undoubtedly had some successes in his term — including stepped-up efforts to exonerate those wrongfully convicted and an increased focus on prosecutions of police officers accused of misconduct and excessive force — but his term has been rocked by public disputes with his own prosecutors and a litany of civil suits that have already cost the county roughly $7 million. Some of his reforms were deemed illegal by a judge in 2021 and critics have also blamed his policies directly for heinous crimes.
Property and violent crime rose in L.A. County from 2019 to 2022, according to California Department of Justice data. But other counties with more traditional prosecutors saw violent crime surge at much higher rates in the same time frame, a data point Gascón often stresses. LAPD data also show homicides and robberies have declined over the last two years and criminologists argue that its disingenuous to solely blame a district attorney’s policies for crime surges or declines.
The field chasing Gascón included four prosecutors from within his own office, three judges and two former federal prosecutors. With resumes and messages that largely mirrored one another — 10 of the 11 challengers promised to roll back nearly all of the policies Gascón announced during his inaugaration speech — it became hard for a challenger to stand out from the pack.
Hochman, raised the most money in the primary and has promised to “get politics out” of an office he says was made increasingly partisan by Gascón and the broader progressive prosecutor movement nationwide. Dozens of Hochman supporters noshed on an international selection of cheeses and mini creme brulees while they awaited early results Tuesday evening. Partygoers eagerly refreshed early election results, cheering as Hochman pulled ahead.
“As soon as we’re confirmed to be in the top two, the trial of George Gascón begins,” Hochman said between selfies with jubilant supporters on Tuesday night.
Although he favors alternative sentencing outcomes for nonviolent defendants struggling with mental illness or drug addiction, Hochman also promised to seek the death penalty in some cases and make use of sentencing enhancements for gang and gun crimes, measures that can sometimes double the prison time for certain defendants. Critics have argued that enhancements are disproportionately used against people of color.
Running as a moderate who can balance reform with justice, ex-federal prosecutor Jeff Chemerinsky was one of the lone candidates to embrace criminal justice reform while challenging Gascón. He raised the second-most money in the field and political observers considered him a serious contender as a centrist Democrat alternative to Gascón, but his moderate message may have struggled to find ears in a race largely defined by bombast and fears over crime. As of 4:30 a.m. , he sat in sixth place , far from contention.
“I ran a campaign true to who I am,” Chemerinsky said as his supporters traded concerned looks at early results during a watch party at T Boyle’s, a Pasadena bar where a trivia contest played out in the background.
The incumbent district attorney will have to overcome low approval ratings and concerns about crime. But with a field of 11 challengers, it has been hard for any of them to stand out.
Hatami was one of the three biggest fundraisers in the field, and the pugnacious prosecutor’s long history of publicly criticizing Gascón and his involvement with attempts to recall the district attorney made him popular with victims’ rights advocates.
He was the only candidate to break from the pack in a USC/Dornsife poll earlier this year, snaring 8% of the vote and finishing a clear second to Gascón. Along with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debra Archuleta, he received the endorsement of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the largest law enforcement union in L.A. County. Archuleta sat in fourth in the polls as of Wednesday morning , garnering about 9% of the vote.
Gascón maintained that he did not believe that any of his challengers made a substantive argument as to how they could do a better job serving as the county’s top prosecutor.
“People can throw rocks, they can say whatever they want to say,” he said Tuesday, adding that he was hopeful for a more policy-focused general election.
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