Republicans found a way to defeat a progressive prosecutor: get rid of the party label and hit him with equal force.

Former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who failed as a Republican candidate for California attorney general, unseated incumbent George Gascon as Los Angeles County district attorney as a “half-hard” independent in Tuesday’s election, attacking both mass incarceration and Gascon’s “extreme pro-criminal policies.” “.

Voters not only personally rejected Gascón, “the godfather of progressive prosecutors,” but also a ballot measure he co-authored that “reclassified certain drug- and property-related misdemeanors as misdemeanors rather than felonies.” , approving another measure that reclassifies shoplifting as a felony for repeat offenders and increases penalties for some drug charges, the Associated Press information.

Hochman had the support of victims’ advocacy groups, Gascon’s predecessor, Jackie Lacey, and more than 70 current and former elected county officials, according to the AP. The prosecutors’ union celebrated their victory as a “crucial moment in the fight to return balance and accountability to the justice system.”