Gascón has battled political headwinds — and multiple recall attempts — as he has pushed to reorder crime and punishment in California’s largest county. Rising violent crime and a series of brazen offenses have soured the public mood as law enforcement rallied against Gascón and conservative media portrayed him as the embodiment of liberal lawlessness.
After an initial recall push fell short, this latest attempt collected more than 700,000 raw signatures and around $6 million — much of it from wealthy donors, including prominent Republicans — while law enforcement closed ranks against the district attorney. Sheriff Alex Villanueva endorsed the recall effort, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck renounced Gascón, and Gascón’s deputy prosecutors, who had opposed his election, overwhelmingly voted to support the recall.
In a reflection of the broader political moment, other candidates running on law-and-order platforms threw in with Gascón’s opponents. Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso endorsed the recall and contributed $50,000 to help it qualify. Republican Attorney General candidate Nathan Hochman has used Gascón as a foil and was on hand when proponents submitted recall signatures.
Gascón is a leading figure in a network of elected prosecutors working to reduce incarceration and lessen criminal penalties, arguing decades of stringent punishments have failed. He swiftly followed through on his campaign platform by ordering sweeping sentencing changes that included barring prosecutors from charging juveniles as adults and seeking various enhancements that increase criminal penalties.
But only some of that has survived. Deputy prosecutors sued and won a court order invalidating much of those changes. Gascón has modified others after public backlash, including a case in which a woman who was arrested at 26 for having sexually assaulted a child was charged as a juvenile because she allegedly committed the offense when she was 17.