Even in a red wave election, California was going to be a safe pickup for Kamala Harris. But voters in the Golden State sent a clear message on Tuesday night that they’ve had enough of the soft-on-crime policies and progressive prosecutors who’ve made a career out of coddling criminals.
Proposition 36, which undoes several of the criminal justice “reforms” that were enacted a decade ago, was approved by an overwhelming majority of voters. As of mid-morning on Wednesday, the ballot measure to increase sentences for crimes involving drugs and thefts had 70% approval; a remarkable achievement for any referendum, but especially one that was opposed by the governor and many members of the political establishment.
Property crime spiked in California after the pandemic while the state, counties and local governments have struggled to contain and control sidewalk encampments of homeless people.
Prop. 36 was pitched by supporters as a solution to those problems Led by the retail industry, they pledged that the measure would target drug traffickers and people who commit multiple acts of retail theft.
They raised about $17 million for the measure, which in addition to big checks from major retailers also included contributions from the California District Attorneys Association and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
Opponents raised about $7.7 million, which included contributions from the ACLU, teachers unions and the labor organization Service Employees International Union.
Prop. 36 reverses some of the changes California voters made to the criminal justice system a decade ago with Proposition 47, which lowered the penalties for some crimes while seeking to reduce the state’s then-swollen prison population.
Polls leading up the election consistently showed a large majority of likely voters supported Prop. 36. Several Democratic big city mayors and district attorneys threw their support behind it, too, despite Newsom’s opposition.
“Tonight, California voters have spoken with a clear voice on the triple epidemics of retail theft, homelessness and fatal drug overdoses plaguing our state,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a written statement. “In supporting Proposition 36, they said yes to treatment. They said yes to accountability. And they said yes to putting common sense before partisanship, so we can stop the suffering in our communities.”
They also said “hell no” to four more years of George Gascon running the D.A.’s office in Los Angeles County. The Soros-backed prosecutor who won office four years ago on a platform of “restorative justice” and reforms to the criminal justice system was ousted by Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and assistant U.S. Attorney. While Hochman’s margin of victory wasn’t as lopsided as the results for Prop 36, the D.A.’s race wasn’t exactly a nail-biter either.
The first rounds of returns released Tuesday showed Hochman receiving more than 1.1 million votes and Gascón around 700,000 — or about 61% to 39% in favor of the challenger.
“While the final votes haven’t been tallied, all indications are the voices of the residents of LA County have been heard and they’re saying enough is enough of George [Gascón’s] policies and they look forward to a safer future,” Hochman said after the first results were announced.
Hochman supporters gathered on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills on election night. Addressing a jubilant crowd following the initial results, the candidate praised many of the police officers and prosecutors who supported him, and said his likely victory was the result of a bipartisan coalition of people for whom safety was a “crossover issue” in divisive political times.
He repeated promises to strip partisan politics from the district attorney’s office and treat “justice” as his client as top prosecutor.
“We will go back to just two things: the facts and the law,” he said.
Voters in the Bay Area also voted in favor of a return to law and order by recalling Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao; both progressives who wore out their welcome as residents became increasingly frustrated and concerned about crime in their community. With 100% of precincts reporting both Price and Thao have been soundly defeated, with about 65% of voters choosing to boot them from office.
Price won the 2022 election with roughly 53 percent of the vote and became the first African American woman to hold the county’s top prosecutor job.
At the time, she was clear about her reform-minded policies, including not tacking on enhancements to charges in order to win longer prison terms in criminal cases, not charging juveniles as adults and finding alternatives to prison or jail for certain defendants, among other things.
Soon after she took office opponents launched a petition drive and ultimately gathered enough signatures to place her name on a recall ballot, alleging that her progressive reform platform was too soft on criminals and led to increasing crime — making her the first district attorney in the county’s history to face a recall.
… [Oakland] Recall supporters said they were upset with [Thao’s] firing of former police chief LeRonne Armstrong, a missed deadline to receive millions in retail theft prevention grant money from the state and the use of one-time money from the sale of the city’s ownership of half of the Oakland Coliseum to balance the city’s budget.
They said people no longer feel safe in Oakland, that businesses have left over worries about crime and that Thao has failed to put a halt to the city’s perceived lawlessness.
California isn’t going to turn red anytime soon, but the far-left progressive policies on crime and punishment have definitely fallen out of favor. Second Amendment advocates can and should use these results as a way to introduce the electorate to a subject that’s long been taboo in the statehouse in Sacramento: the right to defend ourselves and our families from violent predators and the failure of California’s gun control regime in protecting the public. That’s a long-term project, but it’s a message that can resonate with many voters.
