Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon lost his seat in a landslide to independent challenger Nathan Hochman, The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reported.
Gascon is projected to lose against Hochman in a crucial seat in one of America’s most crime-ridden cities, according to the AP and the LA Times Wednesday morning. Hochman will take up the mantle as the city continues to reel from a crime problem, with violent incidents overall remaining above pre-pandemic levels, according to FBI data.
Currently, Hochman leads Gascon by over 20 points with an estimated 59% of votes counted, according to the AP.
Gascon trailed Hochman for the majority of the race, with polling showing him down by as much as 30 points in early October, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll cosponsored by the Los Angeles Times. The Soros-backed district attorney won with 53% of the vote in 2020, according to the final vote count.
“It’s mostly a vote on Gascón,” Mark DiCamillo, director of the UC Berkeley IGS poll, told the LA Times in November. “Hochman is the other candidate in this race and he’s in that fortunate position of running against an unpopular incumbent.”
Hochman supports tougher punishments for crime and ending “early release policies,” according to his campaign website. He was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Police Chief’s Association among other local police organizations.
Gascon’s tenure was marked by an increase in crime overall, with violent crime jumping by 12% and property crime 15% from 2021 to 2023, according to CalMatters.
Gascon received funding from left-wing billionaire George Soros, getting a $4.5 million grant from the Sores-affiliated California Justice & Public Safety PAC in support of his 2020 campaign. However, Soros did not fund his 2024 reelection bid, along with Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.