Today, voters in L.A. county are taking part in the race for a new district attorney. Among current D.A. George Gascón’s 11 challengers, five of them are current members of the D.A.’s office, including Jonathan Hatami.
Gascón was elected in 2020 and promised progressive criminal justice reform. During his first term two recall attempts failed to get on the ballot, according to the Associated Press. Opponents of Gascón blame his policies, like his abolishment of cash bail for nonviolent felonies, for the rise in property crimes and unsafe perception in L.A.
To win the primary election in California, a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote. With 12 candidates on the ballot, the election will likely move to a runoff between the two candidates that receive the most votes.
Some voters at the USC Village polls told Annenberg Media that Gascón has not lived up to expectations, but others said that Gascón just needs time to enact change.
Name: Sam Perez
Age: 23
Occupation: Graduate Music Teaching and Learning student
D.A. Vote: Jonathan Hatami
“Regardless of which candidate wins, I hope that they are thinking of L.A. County in general and just thinking of bettering the county…we are a large, diverse county, so [the D.A.] should help all the people in the county.”
Name: Paulina Valdivia
Age: 32
Occupation: Teacher
D.A Vote: George Gascón
“You have to be patient, there’s trial and error, change doesn’t happen overnight and so I’m a teacher, so I went ahead and voted for [Gascón] again. Hopefully he can make those changes.”
Name: Wallis Knott
Age: 68
Occupation: Retired
D.A Vote: George Gascón
“I liked George Gascón before he became the District Attorney. I voted for him again only because I didn’t know any of the other people that were running against him. I don’t like some of his policies like his catch-and-release stuff, I don’t like that…I used to go along with that because of the mass incarceration of people of color but this policy is actually ridiculous.”
Name: Celeste Vazquez
Age: 21
Major: Student, senior studying human biology
D.A Vote: Gascón
“There was a recall attempt a year or so ago in L.A. county, and I feel like a lot of the discourse surrounding [Gascón’s] performance as a D.A is very sourced in fearmongering and statistics that aren’t necessarily true,” she said. “I feel like a lot of people are quick to say that L.A. has descended into some sort of Gotham City, when that’s not even true, violent crime decreased, homicides in L.A. decreased under Gascón as well, and the other options aren’t the greatest either.”
In 2023, homicides in Los Angeles County decreased by 17% and violent crime decreased by 3.2% according to statistics released by the Los Angeles Police Department. There was a 3.5% increase in property crime.
“I know people want to be tough on crime, but I personally don’t think that is the best way to go towards public safety and have people be reintroduced into society after incarceration,” she continued.