LA County District Attorney George Gascón fights for reelection in contentious race against Nathan Hochman
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is fighting for reelection in a race against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman.
The outcome of the closely watched race could offer a glimpse into where public opinion stands on criminal justice reform since the 2020 election, which saw progressives such as Gascón elected amid a national reckoning with systemic racism and policing after the killing of George Floyd.
Gascón, a Democrat who campaigned on a platform of reform and police accountability, has been accused by Hochman of worsening public safety in Los Angeles through his approach to running the DA's office.
Who is endorsing Hochman and Gascón for LA County DA?
Hochman has received widespread backing from law enforcement, collecting endorsements from a coalition of unions representing officers and first responders as well as former DA Jackie Lacey and the district attorneys for Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.
Gascón has been endorsed by the LA County Democratic Party, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Los Angeles Times, along with a list of Democratic leaders and public officials.
The district attorney's campaign has received just a fraction of the funding it did in the 2020 election, and far less than Hochman's, as he and outside groups supporting him have raised just $1.2 million compared to $10.4 million in campaign donations for Hochman as of Oct. 14, according to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times.
Where do Gascón and Hochman stand on criminal justice?
Hochman, a former longtime Republican who is running as an independent candidate, has promised to obtain state funding to more aggressively prosecute organized retail crimes and restore the Hardcore Gang Unit in the DA's office. Gascón had renamed that department as the Community Violence Reduction Division, in a reorganization he said uses a community-oriented, public health-based approach.
Hochman wants tougher penalties for criminals and more forceful prosecution of crimes, accusing Gascón of a so-called "pro-criminal" approach. He has said the DA's office should be prosecuting lower-level crimes such as loitering for prostitution and drug possession.
Gascón, meanwhile, said Hochman's stance is reminiscent of policies and attitudes in the War on Drugs era of the 1970s.
"There's always this undertone of mass incarceration," Gascón said at the fall debate. "He talks about how he's going to provide for safety, but he talks about no flexibility, everyone faces the maximum penalty no matter what. It's so much code-talking for mass incarceration, it's so much code-talking for the War on Drugs."
Gascón has touted his record tackling police misconduct, saying he has filed five officer-involved shooting cases compared to just one case filed in the 20 years before he became the city's top prosecutor. Under his leadership, the DA's office has created the Resentencing Unit, with more than 300 people resentenced with a majority cases resulting in release.
Hochman has criticized such early releases and vowed to more aggressively prosecute fentanyl-related cases and organized retail theft, hot-button issues at the center of the closely watched election for Proposition 36. That ballot initiative seeks to reverse the downgrading of penalties for certain crimes under 2014's voter-approved Proposition 47, which critics claim has led to an increase in smash-and-grab robberies and property thefts across California.
Gascón has said his office has prosecuted more than 92% of organized retail theft cases brought to prosecutors by law enforcement this year. For the first time, his office filed murder charges in a case involving a fentanyl-related death earlier this year, backtracking from an early stance against such serious charges in drug-related cases.
Some current and former prosecutors in the DA's office have criticized Gascón's leadership, supporting and speaking alongside Hochman at an October campaign event on gender-based violence.