It appears that even in Democratic strongholds, voters have had enough with soft-on-crime policies that have been implemented by left-wing prosecutors in recent years. In California and Illinois, three district attorneys who enacted lenient criminal policies were ousted during Tuesday’s election. In addition, a ballot measure to toughen criminal penalties in California was passed overwhelmingly.
In Los Angeles County, which Vice President Kamala Harris won by almost 30 points, Democratic District Attorney George Gascón lost by 22 points to Nathan Hochman, an independent. Gascón, who was elected with the backing of George Soros in the wake of the George Floyd killing in 2020, became known for eliminating cash bail and refusing to charge underage violent crime offenders as adults.
Gascón was also the co-author of Proposition 47, an initiative passed in 2014 that “downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950 and reclassified some felony drug offenses as misdemeanors.”
Under Gascón, the rate of shoplifting in Los Angeles skyrocketed 81% in 2023, with an overall surge of 28% over the last five years. Violent crime also increased during Gascón’s tenure.
“The voters of L.A. County rejected extreme pro-criminal policies,” Hochman remarked during an interview Thursday. “Gascón said that certain crimes and certain criminals will not be prosecuted, notwithstanding the facts and the law. I rejected those de-carceration policies. I also rejected the mass-incarceration policies, and I came down in the ‘hard work’ middle. You’ve got to do the work to make sure that each individual case is being considered individually.”
In addition, California voters in the Bay Area soured on another soft-on-crime official, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who was ousted in a recall initiative by an overwhelming 70% of voters. Price received heavy criticism for relaxing sentencing policies, including reducing charges for defendants charged with the killing of a 2-year-old boy and allowing a future murderer to escape long-term jailtime for a previous crime.
A statewide ballot initiative in the Golden State that toughens criminal penalties also saw enormous success, with over 70% of Californians voting to pass the measure. Proposition 36 will authorize felony charges for possession of fentanyl as well as thefts of under $950 if the offender has two prior convictions, among other changes that will strengthen criminal penalties. The measure passed overwhelmingly despite strong opposition from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Meanwhile in Chicago, Democrat Eileen O’Neill Burke, who promised to keep criminals who are charged with weapons offenses behind bars and “prosecute retail thefts of $300 or more as felony offenses,” won 66% of the vote [in a race for Cook County, Illinois, state’s attorney].
In comments to The Washington Stand, Family Research Council Senior Fellow Joseph Backholm argued that the progressive vision of leniency on crime ultimately did not appeal to most voters’ sense of justice.
“Because progressivism denies the doctrine of sin, they assume the only reason people do bad things is because something bad was done to them,” he observed. “So, if people are just treated nicely, they’ll be nice to others. This belief has inspired a lot of people who should be protecting the innocent by punishing criminals to victimize the innocent by refusing to punish criminals. Voters care more about safety than whether the person breaking into the building was abused as a child and want leaders who share those same values. Christians believe in redemption, so there is hope for everyone, but justice and decency requires us to value the interests of the innocent over the interests of the guilty.”
