Meet the candidates who are running to overthrow George Gascón

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón faces formidable competition in the upcoming primary scheduled for March 5, according to the poll.

Left-wing billionaire George Soros has backed it financially gascon and his critics have accused him of contributing to a decrease in public safety in Los Angeles. While currently leading the race, Gascón faces 11 primary challengers, including five who are polling 13 points or less behind him.

DA George Gascon is forced to defend his policy of barring prosecutors from pursuing gang enhancements.

He faces a mother whose son was killed by a gang member and the DDAs running against him.

Feat @jonathanhatami @EricSiddall @johnmckinney_ @MariaforDA pic.twitter.com/Aui2s4ayJZ

— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) February 9, 2024

Among likely voters, 15% express the intention to vote for Gascón, but the majority are undecided, seconds to a survey of politics and elections in California. Five of Gascón's 11 main opponents won support ranging from 2% to 8%.

Gascón's policies include rejecting “gang enhancements” and other ways to extend sentences, not charging most juvenile defendants as adults, promoting no-cash bail, and declining to prosecute many misdemeanors. seconds in the New York Times. He was sworn in in December 2020 and his term ends in December 2024.

“I have instituted a series of reforms based on data and science that will improve safety while reducing racial disparities and the misuse of incarceration,” Gascón said. affirmed after his first 100 days in office. “Our efforts to transform an outdated approach that creates more crime, victims and inequality are just beginning.”

However, property crimes, such as carjackings and robberies, increased significantly under Gascón, according to the NYT.

Gascón's main challenger is Jonathan Hatami, who has 8% support in the poll and was previously his deputy prosecutor. seconds on your campaign website. Hatami was a former child abuse prosecutor.

“Right now we have a society in Los Angeles that feels really unsafe,” Jon Hatami said at a January debate. seconds on local news channel LAist.

Gascón ordered Hatami to “drop the previous allegations and strike in the case of a girl who was tortured and killed by her father” shortly after the district attorney took office on Dec. 15, 2020, his web site Hatami refused and criticized Gascón in an interview with ABC7 the next day, saying“I don't understand why we're not trying to prosecute child killers to the fullest extent of the law.”

The top two candidates will advance to the November general election unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, according to the NYT.

Nathan Hochman has 4% support and is a fiscal. seconds on your campaign website. Hochman was previously a deputy U.S. attorney who lost a 2022 election to become California attorney general as a Republican candidate.

“On my first day in office, I will make it clear to the public and to criminals that the Golden Age of Criminals is over,” Hochman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “I will remove all of Gascon's blanket pro-criminal policies and remove the handcuffs that Gascon has put on over 900 prosecutors and put them back on the criminals.”

“I care more about victims than criminals, and every decision I make as district attorney will be driven by the protection of the public, not the defense of criminals,” he added.

Homeless it has also been a problem in Los Angeles under Gascón's tenure, with 47,000 homeless people currently living there and the city. spend more than $1 billion each year in an effort to address the problem. His office's sole role in the crisis is to prosecute when homeless people commit crimes, he said in a January debate.

Jeff Chemerinsky is polling at 2% and is an assistant U.S. attorney who served as chief of the violent and organized crime section of the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles before launching his campaign. seconds on your campaign website. Chemerinsky has won convictions against more than 30 MS-13 gang members and has won convictions in numerous organized retail theft cases, his web site states

“It would work with law enforcement and restore the sense of partnership that I think is missing right now,” Chemerinsky said at the January debate, according to LAist.

Craig Mitchell also owns 2% and is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge and former prosecutor. seconds on your campaign website.

“Property crimes have increased greatly. The number of violent crimes is unacceptable. Many of these crimes are rooted in people suffering from addiction and/or mental illness…Two of my major life experiences have equipped me to address addiction and mental illness in a way that no other candidate can.My work as a Superior Court judge for the past 18 1/2 years, along with my work on Skid Row for the past 13 years. .. If we do not meaningfully address addiction, there will not be an appreciable reduction in crime,” Mitchell told the DCNF.

Finally, Maria Ramirez also owns 2% and is an Assistant District Attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. seconds on your campaign website. She oversaw the operations of seven crime divisions, including “gang stalwarts” and “sex offences” as director of specialist prosecutions.

“George Gascon has been a failed leader because he has failed to consider the real consequences of his policies on the safety and well-being of our communities,” Ramirez told the DCNF. “He has systematically failed to consult with his own employees and law enforcement to include them in decision-making and the effective implementation of public safety policies. Despite being labeled a 'reformist', Gascó does not has achieved real reform to improve the system.”

Soros contributed $4.7 million to a political action committee to boost Gascón in 2020, seconds to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. Gascón was sworn in in December 2020 and faced a recall effort for his criminal policy in 2022, which he survived in August after the petition failed to reach the required number of signatures.

Of the total of 715,833 signatures, 195,783 were invalid, seconds to a news release from the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The petition needed 566,857 signatures to be eligible.

Gascón, Hatami and Cheriminsky did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.

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