Conservatives Fail In Bid To Recall Los Angeles DA

The Guardian reports:

A campaign to recall the progressive Los Angeles district attorney, George Gascón, did not get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot and will not move forward, election officials announced on Monday.

The failure of the initiative to remove Gascón in the middle of his first term is a victory for criminal justice reform advocates and a major blow to police unions and conservative groups that have staunchly opposed efforts to reduce mass incarceration and hold officers accountable for misconduct.

The Los Angeles county registrar said it had determined that 195,783 signatures submitted by the recall campaign were invalid, and that the group needed 46,800 additional valid signatures to make the ballot. A total of 566,857 signatures are needed to qualify for the ballot.

Politico reports:



Democratic officials rallied behind Gascón as he vowed to implement a new vision. But rising anxiety about public safety has since shifted the political landscape, fueling the June recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Gascón’s successor and ally.

A Gascón ouster could have been far more consequential than Boudin’s fall. The Los Angeles district attorney’s office is the largest in the United States and was central to the crime crackdown that characterized the 1980s and 1990s before shifting dramatically in the other direction.

A prosecutor recall there would function as a bellwether for the progressive movement Gascón has helped lead.