LOS ANGELES – George Gascón won election as Los Angeles County district attorney in 2020 on a promise to implement criminal justice reform following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Four years later, he faces a tough-on-crime rival who says those policies have gone too far.

Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, calls himself a “hard middle” candidate who would reject both mass incarceration and “decarceration” policies. Despite being a former Republican running as an independent in a heavily Democratic city, he has raised more than $4 million compared to less than $1 million for Gascon, not including contributions to outside groups that support the candidates.

When Gascón first ran for office, he promised that he would not seek the death penalty in prosecutions, charge juveniles as adults or ask for sentencing enhancements that can dramatically lengthen prison time. With the backing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and other prominent officials, he unseated incumbent District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

However, Gascón ran into trouble trying to implement those reforms, including opposition from some of his own staff, and even some lawsuits accusing him of workplace retaliation for defying his directives. Two attempts were made to recall him, but neither garnered enough signatures to make it to the ballot. Since then, it has changed course on several of those directives.

Hochman’s candidacy reflects the state’s growing disillusionment with progressive district attorneys who have pushed criminal justice reform. In 2022, San Francisco voters ousted one of the first reform-minded prosecutors elected to office; this year voters will decide whether to unseat another in Oakland.

California Department of Justice crime statistics for Los Angeles County tell a mixed story.

Homicides are down 23.1% from a small increase in 2021. Violent crime overall rose 8.5% between 2019 and 2023, but that was less than a 15.4% increase statewide as part of a national trend since the COVID-19 pandemic. Property crimes, however, increased 14.5% in Los Angeles County, but only 2.9% statewide.

Amid media coverage of high-profile murders and alarming viral videos of mass retail robberies, victims’ advocates and business interests are rallying behind Hochman.

“Mr. Gascón has been one of the greatest gifts to the gangs,” Hochman said in a recent debate, criticizing him for not seeking an increase in the gang sentence for the murder of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor.

Gascón has spent much of the campaign defending his policies and the results of the prosecution. Regarding gang improvements, for example, he said they have traditionally been tainted by racial bias and formed a committee to decide them on a case-by-case basis. His office says it prosecuted more than 100,000 “serious crimes” in the past four years, a rate comparable to the previous decade.

Hochman has also criticized Gascón’s policy of not prosecuting minors as adults and has pointed out cases of recidivism.

They include a man who as a 16-year-old participated in a gas station robbery in 2018 and was later released from a juvenile detention center, only to be arrested and charged in April of this year in connection with a homicide. Another, a 17-year-old gang member in 2019 who admitted to a double homicide and could have faced life in prison, was released last February and arrested months later in connection with a new murder.

Much attention was also paid to the case of Hannah Tubbs, a transgender woman who at age 26 was allowed to plead guilty in juvenile court to the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl because the crime occurred when Tubbs was a minor. . Tubbs later pleaded no contest to the murder of a homeless man in central California.

Gascón says he is handling juvenile cases in accordance with state law, which prohibits prosecutors from trying juveniles as adults without a judge’s approval. Another committee created by Gascón makes decisions on whether individual juvenile cases should be transferred to adult court.

Gascón touts his commitment to “balanced reform” in a system that has historically disproportionately locked up people of color. And he has fought back, accusing Hochman of campaigning on “Trump scaremongering” and wanting to return to the days of the failed war on drugs and mass incarceration.

“My opponent has a disconnection from the truth,” Gascón said during a debate.

Hochman defended himself as a lifelong centrist who never supported former President Donald Trump and plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris this year.

“I’ve been pro-choice my whole life, I’ve been pro-LGBTQ rights my whole life,” he said.

Hochman advanced from a field of 11 challengers in one of the most crowded primary fields in Los Angeles history. He has received endorsements from local police unions, victims’ advocacy groups, developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, and more than 70 current and former elected officials across the county.

Gascón is a former Los Angeles police officer who served as San Francisco district attorney from 2011 to 2019 and also served as police chief in Mesa, Arizona, and San Francisco. He has received endorsements from a majority of Los Angeles County supervisors, local Democratic groups and labor groups, including the county Federation of Labor.