Why progressive DAs are losing their grip on the West Coast
SAN FRANCISCO — Progressive prosecutors are under siege all along the West Coast, as voters in deep-blue metro areas express their frustration with more lenient approaches to crime.
The trend started with the 2022 recall ouster of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which criminal justice reformers once labeled a pandemic-induced anomaly unlikely to repeat in other liberal-leaning bastions.
But this week’s district attorney election in the ultra-liberal Portland area made it clear the sentiment isn’t a one-off. Progressive District Attorney Mike Schmidt was defeated by tough-on-crime challenger Nathan Vasquez, a prosecutor in Schmidt’s own office and an independent who was previously a Republican.
Similar voter frustration has emerged in California, with Alameda’s DA Pamela Price facing a recall, and Los Angeles’ George Gascón fighting for reelection.
Altogether, the hurdles facing progressive prosecutors on the “left coast” illustrate a backswing in public sentiment and perceptions of crime since the 2020 killing of George Floyd prompted a national reckoning on racism and conversation around the costs of tough-on-crime politics.
Voters in urban centers like San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and Oakland now appear to have grown impatient with aspects of the progressive mantra about restorative justice. And California progressives are taking note of Oregon’s vote.
“Multnomah County and LA County are 600 miles apart and worlds different,” said political strategist Jim Ross, who worked on Boudin’s anti-recall campaign, adding though that the Portland outcome “is an indication, I think that Gascón is going to have a really tough race.”
The shift comes as major cities have, to varying degrees, struggled with similar issues: sprawling homeless tent encampments, surging fentanyl overdose deaths and concerns about brazen theft.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, moderate advocacy groups heavily funded by wealthy tech investors have spent millions criticizing the progressive approach to criminal justice reform — and to oust Boudin.
Kanishka Cheng, co-founder of TogetherSF Action, part of that centrist network that has reshaped San Francisco politics, said the challenges to multiple prosecutors in liberal cities show that even progressive voters have had enough.
“No matter how progressive people are and how many ideals they have, at the end of the day, people need to have their basic needs met,” she said. “You want to feel safe.”
But reformers like Cristine Soto DeBerry accuse critics of seizing on post-pandemic challenges nationwide to “scapegoat” progressives on public safety.
“Unfortunately, these efforts are taking advantages of the destabilizing effect of the pandemic and the reality of the economy and inflation and challenges well outside of any local prosecutor’s control,” said Soto DeBerry, director of the progressive Prosecutors Alliance of California, who previously was chief of staff to Boudin and Gascón (during his earlier stint as San Francisco DA).
There are also limits to what Portland voters can reveal about those in Oakland or Los Angeles. The electorate in Oregon’s lower-turnout May primary was likely less Democratic than the one that will decide Price and Gascón’s fates in November. Schmidt’s Multnomah County is also smaller and less diverse than Los Angeles.
Party loyalty could be key for Gascón, who is running against Nathan Hochman, a former Republican — and Gascón is working to make sure voters know it. He has retained endorsements from Democratic mainstays like the county party and labor federation.
“It’ll be a much stronger Democratic turnout and more polarized” than in Multnomah, said Jeff Millman, who worked for Gascón’s Democratic primary challenger Jeff Chemerinsky. “Gascón is obviously hoping for that.”
Still, Millman argued that relying on Democratic allegiance will only go so far in a race shaped by concerns about public safety and quality of life.
“A lot of people will vote along the lines of their party,” Millman said, “but when you vote for a district attorney, it’s different from voting for a member of Congress, where you just vote for your team.”
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