Americans made it abundantly clear at the ballot box on Nov. 5 that they are fed up with soft-on-crime policies and ready for a change. That message wasn’t just sent from states in which a majority voted for Donald Trump. This also occurred in areas that overwhelmingly voted for Kamala Harris (D), as they voted out George Soros-backed district attorneys and prosecutors who had made their cities more dangerous over the past few years.
California is a great example, as tough-on-crime opponent Nathan Hochman soundly defeated Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón. Despite presidential candidate Harris winning Los Angeles County by 30 points, Gascón lost the district attorney race by 24 points.
Gascón’s foray into politics was supported by George Soros as he ran on a “restorative justice” model of reducing sentences, no-cash bail and a refusal to prosecute many criminals. Unsurprisingly, those policies paralleled a dangerous rise in violent crime in the city. During Gascón’s first year in office, 2021, homicides in Los Angeles spiked by nearly 12% from the prior year. Additionally, homicides were 50% higher than in 2019.
Gascón wasn’t the only soft-on-crime politician booted by California voters this election cycle. Voters also recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and replaced San Francisco Mayor London Breed with a challenger who pledged to “bring accountability back to public safety.”
California voters also overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, a measure that, in part, will increase penalties for criminals who repeatedly engage in theft and add new laws to address “smash-and-grab” thefts that result in significant losses and damage or are committed by organized theft gangs. The measure will also add fentanyl to the existing laws that prohibit the possession of hard drugs while armed and allow judges to sentence drug dealers to state prison instead of county jail in some cases.
While opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the measure passed with nearly 70% voter approval. More than half of Harris voters approved the proposition.
“The downfall of so many prominent anti-gun progressives signals a long-overdue day of reckoning over their disastrous, revisionist criminal justice experiment, marked by undermined law enforcement, lenient prosecution, reduced or no consequences for criminal behavior, and the escalating victimization of honest citizens,” reported the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA). “It is likely too soon to expect a similar enlightenment to occur with respect to the state’s gun laws, but it is a welcome indicator of what happens when residents demand public safety, political accountability, and law and order.”
California wasn’t the only state where anti-gun, soft-on-crime prosecutors were relieved of their duties. According to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), over the past decade, Soros has spent at least $50 million to elect scores of “social-justice” prosecutors across the country. These district attorneys, who represent over 70 million people or more, often pursue pro-criminal and anti-police policies. According to LELDF, 12 of the 25 Soros-linked district attorneys the organization was tracking were defeated in the recent election. And as in Los Angeles, many who lost were in districts that voted heavily in favor of Harris.
In Oregon, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt was defeated by one of his own office’s deputy attorneys, Nathan Vasquez. Schmidt was one of the primary backers of the ballot measure to decriminalize virtually all drug use in Portland. In Georgia, voters ousted District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez by a 20% margin.
“In the most significant district attorney races, traditionally minded prosecutors got a larger share of the votes than either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris because one out of eight Harris voters backed the tough-on-crime candidate,” LELDF Policy Director Sean Kennedy told Fox News. “It turns out public safety isn’t a partisan issue; it’s a common sense one.”
Soros-backed soft-on-crime prosecutors were already on the way out in many areas. Prior to the election, at least 15 far-left district attorneys backed by Soros had resigned, retired, had been recalled or lost re-election since 2022, according to a report by Virginians for Safer Communities.
In another crime-related election result, Arizona voters approved Proposition 313, which will require a life sentence without parole for criminals convicted of a Class 2 felony for child sex trafficking, and Proposition 314, which creates a new crime for fentanyl sales resulting in death.
In the end, it seems that the failed policies of soft-on-crime district attorneys and prosecutors have finally pushed a majority of Americans to a tipping point.
