Americans are turning the page on the woke left’s approach to crime, if this week’s district attorney elections are anything to go by.
A majority of the 25 George Soros-linked district attorneys on the ballot this week were defeated, signaling a backlash against progressive policies that critics say are to blame for a surge in crime across the country in recent years.
Many of the losing Soros candidates were running for office in deep blue jurisdictions and suffered heavy losses despite Vice President Harris clocking up comfortable majorities in those same areas – indicating that a large portion of Democrats are also done with the progressive Left’s soft on crime experiment, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a pro-police non-profit that tracked the 25 races.
Of the 25 Soros-linked district attorneys on the ballot, 12 were either defeated or recalled.
Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, left, and Fabrice Cofferini / AFP, right.)
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Soros, the Hungarian-born left-wing billionaire, runs a dark money web of non-profits that bankroll various candidates around the world who align with his progressive agenda, including his Open Society Foundations. Soros has given over $32 billion to Open Society Foundations since 1984, according to its website.
The most high-profile loss this week came in the city of Los Angeles, where District Attorney George Gascón, backed by Soros, was thumped 24% by his tough on crime opponent, Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, with crime being a top issue of the election cycle.
In contrast, Harris swept Los Angeles County by 30 points.
In other areas of the liberal bastion state, hard-on-crime San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins comfortably beat out prosecutor Ryan Khojasteh, who was the handpicked candidate of former district attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled in 2022.
Jenkins claimed in January that the city has been experiencing a “hard turn to the right” in recent years. Those sentiments were echoed by Gascón after his loss this week.
In another loss for Soros-backed prosecutors in the Golden State, District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled in Alameda County, home to Oakland and Berkeley, less than two years after taking office following backlash for her alleged soft-on-crime approach. Vice President Harris clinched the county 75%-25%.
“Across the battleground states and in Vice President Harris’ home state of California, a sizable share of Democrats voted to oust progressive prosecutors,” Sean Kennedy, the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund’s policy director, tells Fox News Digital.
Nathan Hochman unseated Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon on Tuesday. Gascon survived two recall attempts and came under fire for his progressive criminal justice policies. (AP)
“The election results show that the soft-on-crime approach is not only a failed policy experiment, but also a political loser – even in deep blue areas.
California’s Proposition 36, which sought to restore tough penalties for drugs and theft, easily passed with 70.4% of voters. Every single county in the state voted in favor of Prop 36.
The defeats come after retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs, while cities like San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles have been ravaged by rises in property crime and retail theft.
LOS ANGELES DA GEORGE GASCON DEFENDS RECORD ON CRIME: ‘I KNOW HOW TO KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE’
Kennedy says the voter backlash against soft-on-crime policies was especially acute in the battleground states.
In Georgia, District Attorney of Athens-Clarke and Oconee Counties, Deborah Gonzalez, was tossed out by 20%. She represented the same county where nursing student Laken Riley was allegedly killed by an illegal migrant, who had been arrested and then released before the brutal crime.
Gonzalez ran 16% behind Harris, who carried those counties 56.5% to Trump’s 43.5%.
In Georgia, District Attorney of Athens-Clarke and Oconee Counties, Deborah Gonzalez, was tossed out by 20%. She represented the same county where nursing student Laken Riley was allegedly killed by an illegal migrant, who had been arrested and then released before the brutal crime. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Meanwhile, traditional prosecutors in Arizona’s Maricopa County and Michigan’s Macomb County overperformed Trump’s margin of victory and beat back Soros-backed challengers, according to Kennedy.
“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. It turns out public safety isn’t a partisan issue, it’s a common sense one.”
However, there were wins for Soros-linked candidates, with Savannah’s progressive prosecutor Shalena Cook Jones holding on to her seat by 7%.
In Florida, Soros-backed Monique Worrell reclaimed her position as the Orange-Osceola state attorney, beating out Andrew Bain by just over 5%. She was ousted last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for “dereliction of duty” on crime.
District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled in Alameda County, home to Oakland and Berkeley. (Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle)
However, another DeSantis foe, Andrew Warren, lost to Republican Suzy Lopez in Hillsborough County. DeSantis suspended Warren in August 2022 for refusing to enforce the state’s abortion ban.
Kennedy says that out of the roughly 75 Soros-linked prosecutors nationwide his organization has since identified in 2022, over 30 have left office, and 20 have been replaced by traditional district attorneys.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller, Jamie Joseph, Louis Casiano and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report
