Nathan Hochman. (Photo: by Nathan Hochman for LA District Attorney)
Gascon, Hochman Emerge from DA Primary – Will Face Off in November
When voters were asked about a potential fall one-on-one race, Hochman had a large lead
By Thomas Buckley, March 7, 2024 6:53 am
Incumbent Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon and former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman will face off in November to decide who is the county’s district attorney come December.
Gascon and Hochman finished one-two in Tuesday’s primary, earning them tickets to the general election.
There is somewhere between 10 and 20% of the vote still to count, but the two frontrunner’s places do not appear in jeopardy.
According to the latest count released by the county registrar’s office, Gascon pulled in about 22% of the vote and Hochman about 18% of the million or so ballots counted so far.
Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami finished in third with 13.3% of the vote with Judge Debra Archuleta coming in fourth at 9%.
Rounding out the field, Maria Ramirez got 7.5% of the vote, Jeff Chemerinsky 7%, John McKinney 6.2%, Eric Siddall 6.1%, David Milton 4.8%, Craig Mitchell 3.5%, Lloyd Masson 2.2%, and Dan Kapelovitiz 1.3%.
Hochman was, obviously, pleased with the results.
“More than three-quarters of Angelenos rejected George Gascon and said enough is enough of playing politics with our communities’ safety,” Hochman said. “The Golden Age of Criminals is coming to an end.”
Looking at the numbers more closely, Gascon and his two more progressive opponents – Chemerinsky and Kapelovitz – got a total of about 30% of the vote, with 70% going to the “we need a change,” as it were, side.
In theory, this sets up very nicely for Hochman’s chances in November but Gascon does have one card he can play against Hochman: he used to be a Republican, running for state attorney general recently under that banner (he’s ‘no party preference’ now.)
In the coming months, voters can expect to hear very little from Gascon about what his job actually entails: prosecuting criminals. That’s, in part, because he can’t as his adamantine social justice ideology makes him averse to words like “guilty” and “jail” and “arrest” and “accountable.”
What the Gascon campaign will do is try to force feed a steady “Trump! Trump! Trump! Evil Republican! Trump!” diet to the electorate, attempting to tie Hochman to the (at least in LA County) not terribly popular former president.
This is exactly what Gov. Gavin Newsom did during his recall campaign. Newsom rarely mentioned the state he was governor of during the campaign and just used his $100 million dollars to literally zero campaign fund advantage to yell about Trump.
Oh, and to make absolutely sure every wealthy white, woke, westside woman knew his main opponent was big and black and scary; honestly, the level of blatant racism of the Newsom campaign hadn’t been seen since Mississippi in the 1960s.
Exactly how Gascon will play the race card is not yet known, but he unquestionably will at some point in the campaign.
But there is one huge difference between Gascon and Newsom: favorability rating. During the meat of the recall campaign, Newsom’s favorable/unfavorable public impression gap was relatively small, which allowed him the space to run such an off-point campaign.
That is not the case for Gascon – his favorable/unfavorable gap is massive with a solid 60% of county residents loathing him. This is Hochman’s main advantage.
In fact, an internal poll conducted over the weekend and released by the Hochman campaign today shows just that. The poll predicted, pretty accurately, that Gascon would get about 20% and Hochman about 18%. When voters were asked about a potential fall one-on-one race, Hochman had a large lead: 51% Hochman, 25% Gascon, 24% undecided.
Archuleta was far less sanguine.
“We will undoubtedly have four more years of Gascon,” Archuleta said. “He said he was going to buy the election and that’s exactly what he did to the detriment of the residents of LA County.”
Gascon did not reply to the California Globe to a request for comment, but he did indicate to the Los Angeles Times that he’s happy to be running against Hochman.
“Now, we have a clear Democrat vs. Republican choice going into November, which we’re very optimistic about,” Gascon said.
For his part, Hochman seems to be prepared for the coming deflection campaign of Gascon and confident of the November results.
“I look forward to unifying all those who want to restore safety in their communities, in their streets, parks, subways and neighborhoods. I look forward to restoring trust with prosecutors, a partnership with law enforcement, and credibility with victims and the public,” said Hochman. “The fight to take back Los Angeles County from criminals begins now and continues to November 5 when I will have the honor of becoming L.A. County’s next District Attorney.”
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The only was Gascon pulled in about 22% of the vote when his favorable/unfavorable gap is massive with a solid 60% of county residents loathing him is with voter fraud and rigged voting machines? Elections in LA County are a farce?
The only way Gascon pulled in about 22% of the vote when his favorable/unfavorable gap is massive with a solid 60% of county residents loathing him is with voter fraud and rigged voting machines? Elections in LA County are a farce?
Government employee unions and their massive GOTV ballot harvesting are made for each other, when election results appear confounding. Never sleep. Because they are pounding the pavements every single hour.
Jaye, I had a picture pop into my head yesterday that I think came from one you painted some time ago in the comments here of a giant ballot-counting hall filled with a sea of royal purple (SEIU t-shirts) which you personally witnessed as a volunteer one year? Do I have this right and that it came from you?
So yes, wherever that thought-image came from, it was very effective, and was definitely a warning about what goes on with the 24/7 pavement-pounders.
For what it’s worth I’m very happy to see Nathan Hochman as the candidate against that obnoxious destructive Gascon. Nathan Hochman is strong and qualified and will fulfill what the District Attorney’s job is SUPPOSED to be.
Debra Archuleta as the Voice of Doom is understandable given how hard she worked in this campaign. In my opinion, having essentially made a great argument as to why she should be the candidate in front of the biggest jury in the world, which didn’t take, because elections are not like trials (as frustrating as they also can be), she is now recovering emotionally from that. In my opinion.
For the other side of that point of view, former D.A. Steve Cooley recently pointed out that, although evil funder of all that’s dark and destructive George Soros has undeniably put a number of radical leftist D.A.s in office throughout the U.S., he has historically subsequently dropped funding for those who lose or look like they will lose, and that description certainly fits Gascon. As well as at least one D.A. (Pamela Price in Oakland) who is currently in the midst of a recall. Something to consider.
Knock wood and fingers crossed —– for now. 🙂
“….although evil funder of all that’s dark and destructive George Soros has undeniably put a number of radical leftist D.A.s in office throughout the U.S., he has historically subsequently dropped funding for those who lose or look like they will lose, and that description certainly fits Gascon….”
Showandtell, recently I watched the documentary “Soros” (2020). His advocacy involving “Open Society” has been going on for many, many years as you may know – influenced by his father and growing up as a Jew in WWII Hungary. I would recommend this documentary to everyone. At one point he talks about funding Lech Walesa’s Lenin Shipyard strike and the Solidarity movement in Poland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa); and therefore he gives himself a lot of credit for the fall of the Soviet Union – some of which is probably justified. My view on Soros is that he does not personally get involved in guiding the policies or people of the groups he finances – or at least, that is what he claims. So, at one point, he “apologetically” says that, sometimes, the outcomes are different from what he himself would have wanted. This is what makes him dangerous, imo. He just supplies the money and the money can be used for good or evil. For all he knows he could, and probably is in some way, funding (1) human trafficking run by the cartels and supported by the open-borders Democrats and (2) the crimes of prisoners released by DAs like Gascon. So, I agree that he may no longer see Gascon as a “good investment”. https://youtu.be/zxSk0daOcB8?feature=shared
Thank you for the information, Raymond, and for the link to the Soros documentary.
…..and furthermore, by the time Soros reacts and pulls his funding from a project (like Gascon) that has not gone well, a great deal of damage has already been done 🙁
True, Raymond, I can’t disagree, and if you just take the example of L.A. County, the damage is more than evident (and scary) —- but unfortunately what’s done is done.
P.S. I posted my further reply (below) before I saw your additional comment (above).
I should add the reason I brought up George Soros’ name in the first place, because I don’t believe I have ever invoked his name here before and would typically resist doing it. I was paraphrasing what I heard from former L.A. D.A. Steve Cooley recently, who essentially said “Soros may be evil but he’s smart. Historically it’s been shown that he doesn’t continue to fund ‘losers.'”
What Cooley said, and the reason I posted what he said, was meant to be a response to Debra Archuleta’s “Voice of Doom” post-election statement: “We will undoubtedly have four more years of Gascon,” Archuleta said. “He said he was going to buy the election and that’s exactly what he did to the detriment of the residents of LA County.”
“Buy the election” can be taken many ways, but one way, that apparently can be eliminated now if Cooley’s information is accurate, is by Soros or his proxies directly funding Gascon’s campaign chest.
Just wanted to clarify. Hope it does? (ha)
Yelling Trump, Trump, Trump does not change the crime in their daily live that voters still have to face in LA every day. Trump did not do that. But Biden’s open borders sure added to the LA mess.
“Trump, Trump, Trump” seems so nonsensical, as you know, but I guess it’s because we weren’t “in the room” for the original brainwashing-hypnosis session (metaphorically speaking), so we’re not vulnerable to what always seems to me to be a sort of “post-hypnotic suggestion.” Yell “Trump” and the ‘hypnotized’ vote for Gascon. Or Newsom. Or Schiff. Or Biden. But so many more are awake now than our last go-round. Or so we hope..
Yes, yell “Trump, Trump, Trump” and the obligatory “Raycyst” and untold millions of morons fall in line.
I know, Fed Up, creepy but true!
Had Hochman been 1 out of only 2-3 candidates running against Gascon, then Hochman would’ve probably garnered way more votes than Gascon did and, possibly, would’ve won the primary. The fact that there were 11 candidates running against Gascon, the anti-Gascon votes were spread out among those 11 candidates with Hochman garnering only 17.5% of the votes, Jon Hatami garnering only 13.4% of the votes, John McKinney at 6%, Archuleta at 9%,…………