Former Los Angeles DA Lacey Endorses Nathan Hochman

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney and lifelong Democrat Jackie Lacey Monday endorsed Nathan Hochman in his campaign to unseat current DA George Gascon.

“We must have leadership at the District Attorney’s Office that understands its mission is to seek justice by, among other things, sending a message that criminal behavior is unacceptable in our county. We don’t have that with the current District Attorney,” Lacey said. “Criminals are more brazen because they know they have allies embedded in that office. They know the office policies better than we do. It is time to elect someone who will be proactive at making us safer.”

Lacey, the first woman and first African American to be LA’s DA, made the announcement outside her the home she grew up in south Los Angeles.

“I am endorsing Nathan Hochman for District Attorney because I feel a lot less safe than I did four years ago,” Lacey said. “It’s time to thank and excuse the current district attorney and elect someone with a conscience.”

Hochman now has the support of the two DAs who preceded Gascon, Lacey and Republican Steve Cooley, a fact he said shows he is building support across party, ideological, and demographic lines.

“Jackie’s endorsement is extremely meaningful to me and I am so thankful that she supports my campaign for District Attorney,” Hochman said. “She was an exceptional District Attorney who served 34 years with the office, striving every day to pursue justice on behalf of the people of Los Angeles County, where she was born and raised.”

Hochman – a former Republican – is running as an independent because, he says, that the politics around the district attorney’s office needs to minimized to better serve the entire community.

In 2020, Gascon defeated Lacey in what is believed to be the most expensive district attorney in county history.  In the March 2020 primary, Lacey, running for a third term,  was a whisper short of the 50% (plus a single vote) she needed to avoid a November runoff.  Despite leading the primary by 20 points over Gascon, massive amounts of progressive money – $2.25 million from George Soros’ fund and $2.15 from Netflix chief Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin, etc. – flooded into Gascon’s coffers in the last weeks of the race.  

Combined with the George Floyd-related summer unrest, the social justice/defund the police movement, and the local chapter of BLM protesting outside her home, the woke momentum shifted Gascon’s way.

Additionally, surprise endorsement shifts (such as then-Mayor Eric Garcetti stabbing Lacey in the back) and progressives hypocritically ignoring the fact that they were demonizing a black woman as “The Man” played a significant role in Gascon’s upset.

This time around, though, Gascon is in a much weaker position.  He limped out of the primary, he has not been getting piles of woke money, his ally Attorney General Rob Bonta charged one of his top lieutenants with 11 felonies, anti-cop rhetoric does not have the same appeal it did in 2020, and crime being up as a direct result of his policies are all problems Gascon is facing in this campaign.

And the fact that his poll numbers are terrible – Hochman leads by about 20 points right now and Gascon’s “favorable/unfavorable” rating with the public is more than 20 points underwater – are other signs Gascon is in trouble.

The vote is November 5.