LA County DA race: Meet the candidates George Gascón and Nathan Hochman

LOS ANGELES - In the race for LA County District Attorney, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochman is looking to unseat current District Attorney George Gascón. 

An August 18 LA Times Berkeley IGS poll found that 45% of likely voters would vote for Hochman, while just 20% would vote for Gascón. Thirty-five percent of likely voters said they were undecided.

On the issue of crime, the poll found that 60% of likely voters said public safety in the county has declined since Gascón took office, while 5% said it had improved and 25% said it stayed the same.

Below is a breakdown of what each candidate has to say.

George Gascón

Since taking office in 2020, Gascón has been criticized for his soft-on-crime approach and faced backlash for his sweeping policy changes. Under Gascón, the county saw a drastic increase in crime, including follow-home robberies, smash-and-grab robberies, homelessness, and homicide. 

After being in office for less than a year, Gascón faced a recall -- however, despite strong support, the recall attempt failed. A second recall attempt also failed. 

In a one-on-one interview with FOX 11, Gascón said the biggest misconception people have about him, is that he doesn't care about public safety… but the DA said that's far from the truth.

"The fact is that I have been involved in policing, looking for community safety for 40 years. I go to bed thinking about public safety. I get up in the morning thinking about public safety. I care deeply about the safety of our community and I live in the community, I have family, I have grandkids, it's not like I'm some marshin that drops in the morning to go to work and goes someplace else. I live here," Gascón explained. 

He said despite what people are saying, homicides are at historic lows and the overall trends are promising. He said he feels safe living in Los Angeles.

"I think when you look at our prosecutorial approach, over 100,000 serious crimes have been prosecuted, that's on par with the 10-year average for this office for the last 3 years. You look at our conviction rate, let's say organized retail theft, 89% as opposed to 64% conviction rate before I came into office. When you look at the sentencing, people are going to prison for these crimes."

On the November ballot, Californians will decide on Prop. 36 which would change certain drug possession and thefts under $950 to felonies, primarily for defendants with prior convictions for similar crimes. Gascón is against Prop. 36 saying it would lead to an increase in the prison population and wouldn't help with drug treatment. 

Gascón's previous jobs include being a patrol officer in the Hollywood division for the LAPD. He then became Assistant Chief of Police. Then, in 2006, he became Chief of the Mesa Police Department. In 2009, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón to be San Francisco’s Chief of Police. In 2011, Newsom tapped Gascón once again to be San Francisco District Attorney. 

Nathan Hochman 

If elected as DA, on day one, Nathan Hochman promises to reverse Gascón's "pro-criminal blanket policies." Hochman also promises to be tough on crime and take politics out of the DA's office.

"What Gascón has introduced is a far-left extreme pro-criminal political ideology to make criminal justice decisions and that is what is wrong with the DA's office in Los Angeles," Hochman said on FOX 11. 

His goals also include restoring the integrity, independence, and trust in the DA's office and restoring the partnership between law enforcement and the DA's office. 

His plans also include allowing prosecutors again to accompany victims at parole hearings, restoring opportunities for rehabilitation for those who suffer from mental illness and/or drug addiction, and restoring opportunities and skills for those who go to prison.

"For instance, the ones that allow people to steal under $950 and get off scot-free. The ones that don't back victims' families who are facing their murderers at parole hearings, the ones that have thrown out enhancements for guns, for gangs, for three strikes. I will reverse those policies, but I'm not going to go back to policies of mass incarceration. Those two extremes have not worked. I end up in the hard middle, and the reason it's hard is you need to look at each individual case, the defendant, the crime committed, and the impact on the victim, to determine who the true threats are to our society and have to be behind bars and, quite candidly, the ones that aren't. The first-time nonviolent offenders can pay their debt to society by community service, but they have to pay a debt to society," Hochman explained.  

Hochman, along with several deputy DAs, many who challenged Gascón in the March primary, said public safety worsened under Gascón's watch. 

Hochman and Gascón disagree on many issues, including Prop. 36, California's no-bail policy, and handling juveniles in the system. 

"You cannot go ahead and say to juveniles ‘nothing will happen’ because then you deal with the situation where parents are trying to teach their kids right from wrong and the DA's office is sending a different message," Hochman said. 

When Hochman announced his candidacy, he said Los Angeles evolved into a "dystopia where lawlessness reigns supreme."

Hochman was a centrist Democrat for 20 years, and a centrist Republican for another 20 years. He is now running as an independent for a nonpartisan office. 

Hochman served as an Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California. From 2007 to 2009, he served as an Assistant Attorney General of the United States overseeing the Department of Justice’s Tax Division.