Rough election for progressive policies as voters oust soft-on-crime DA's
Progressive policies and the elected officials behind them had a tough night Tuesday. Voters sent a strong message that they've had enough of progressive crime policies.
Deep blue Los Angeles County ousted and elected Nathan Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent who pledged to crack down on lawlessness.
"The voters of LA County rejected extreme pro-criminal policies...I rejected those decarceration policies. I also rejected the mass incarceration policies and I came down in the middle," Hochman told Fox News on Thursday.
In the San Francisco Bay area, voters gave progressive prosecutor Pamela Price the boot through a recall after just 18 months in office.
California also overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, making shoplifting and theft a felony for repeat offenders and increasing penalties for drug charges.
In another blue state, Colorado, voters passed a proposition extending prison time for some violent felonies.
"One of the statements that we're seeing from voters is look, we just want you to do your job. If the police arrest somebody they need to be prosecuted," said Sgt. Betsy Smith (ret.), the spokesperson for the National Police Association. "I think what we're seeing is a resurrection of pro-police sentiment by the public."
Results show made notable inroads in reliably blue areas. In many cases, this was thanks to Latino voters upset with the economy under President Joe Biden.
"They went out and voted for Donald Trump because they could not afford groceries. They could not afford to buy a house, and those policies resonate with the Latino community," explained Luis Figueroa, vice-chair for the National Hispanic Assembly.
Data shows Trump won 46% of the Latino vote this time around, the most of any Republican presidential nominee ever.
He also made significant gains in reliably blue states, even winning Tim Walz's home county in Minnesota, and losing by smaller margins than Republican candidates before him in states like Illinois and New York.
