Former LA DA Jackie Lacey Speaks About Nathan Hochman’s Victory

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey spoke out about Nathan Hochman’s victory earlier this month over Los Angeles DA George Gascon, saying that she felt “vindicated” by Gascon’s loss and glad that  voters “saw through Gascon’s smoke and mirrors campaign.”

Lacey, a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County since 1986, was first elected District Attorney in 2012. While she was reelected in 2016, she lost to Gascon in 2020 largely due to a rise in calls for social justice sparked by the George Floyd incident earlier in the year, and George Soros funding Gascon’s campaign. Gascon proved to be initially popular with voters by enacting many social justice-centered measures. However, he soon began targeting bigger things, such as eliminating cash bail and getting rid of all crime enhancements.

Gascon’s policies rather quickly got out of hand, with crime dramatically increasing as a result. In 2021, a recall effort against Gascon was mounted, but failed. The next year, another attempt at a recall came extremely close to getting on the ballot, but also failed. Gascon was now targeted by voters, with his popularity going down to record lows. By the time candidates first began looking at entering the DA race primary in late 2023, polls showed that only 14% of LA residents planned on voting for him in the primary.

Gascon managed to get just over 25% of the vote in the primary, with the Former Assistant U.S.  Attorney General for the Tax Division Hochman barely beating out Assistant DA Jonathan Hatami 16% to 13% of the vote, or roughly 36,000 votes. However, the negative backlash over Gascon’s reform-minded policies, which included reduced sentencing, death penalty opposition, and general discontent from many, quickly swung towards Hochman’s favor. With so many opposed to Gascon, Hochman quickly moved into first in the race following the primary.

The first polls for the race in April had Hochman up by 21 points, and he never looked back, with every subsequent poll having him up by at least 20 points. As the election neared, Gascon made an all out blitz in the last month before the election. He managed to out-fundraise Hochman, despite not receiving George Soros funding this time, leading to ads galore coming out in LA County. This included ads pointing to Hochman as a former Republican, trying to consolidate party unity around Gascon. He also tried to appeal to voters by backing the push to free the Menendez Brothers. However, this did nothing to help Gascon, with final polls showing Hochman at 25 points ahead. And helping Hochman out was a familiar face – Lacey. She gave Hochman her endorsement and helped get him critical voting blocs before the election.

Hochman easily won, becoming the first major called race of the night in LA County. Lacey spoke out a lot following the election, noting time and again how glad she was for LA County that Gascon was gone.

Lacey speaks out

“It was difficult for the last four years to watch George Gascon destroy the office, lie to the public and go unchecked on a lot of the things he was doing,” said Lacey the day after election day. “More importantly, to sacrifice our safety and to hear about it from neighbors and friends. It’s just reaffirming to me that these decisions for who should be DA belong in the hands of voters.

“Chesa Boudin’s recall [in San Francisco in 2022] was a good indicator of where things were heading. People always thought that you had to be one or the other – either be tough on crime or progressive, and those are just false choices. I think what most people want is change.”

However, on Monday, Lacey gave a more reflective press conference about the race. “I wasn’t surprised by Gascon’s defeat,” Lacey said. “It really matched what I was hearing on the streets from my neighbors. People were fearful. They were less safe.

“It was a perfect storm in 2020. The criminal justice reform people who were way over to the left took advantage of that and saw it as an opportunity to get the public to go for this.

“But now I feel relieved and vindicated. I’m just glad that the voters saw through what I thought was a smoke-and-mirrors campaign.”

Lacey also noted what Hochman should do once in office.

“First thing I would do is go in and listen to the feedback in terms of what they have to say because there will be some of the reforms he may want to keep,” added Lacey. “Gascon abandoned victims. One of the first things I would do is to start having prosecutors go back to parole hearings with victims to make sure the parole board has the information on lifers.”

She is also happy to see him doing what she would be doing already in high-profile cases like the Menendez Brothers case.

“Hochman has the right answer. Review the entire file, the law, both trials and make the decision. I’m so glad that’s not my job anymore.”

LA County pollster Manny Rodriguez told the Globe on Tuesday that he isn’t surprised by Lacey’s stance in the race.

“If the social justice wave didn’t happen in 2020, she would have had a third term as DA. She knew what Gascon had done to San Francisco and what Boudin was doing to it. But it was a wave that couldn’t be stopped. Hochman winning was, as she said, vindicated her. Gascon was dead wrong on how to go about being a DA.

“The latest results show that Hochman is up by roughly 60% to 40%. I mean, Hochman is a former Republican defeating a very left Democrat. When was the last time you saw someone who is essentially a centrist Republican beat anyone on the left in LA like that in such a high-profile race? Lacey had been worried about her legacy, but Hochman’s victory just saved it. Oh, and it doomed Gascon’s legacy.”

Hochman is expected to be sworn in as the next DA in LA County next month.