Los Angeles voters have elected former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón to run the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office.
Gascón unseated two-term incumbent Jackie Lacey, who conceded defeat Friday.
The bitter race to run the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office was seen as a referendum on whether LA voters wanted to reform policies after a summer of activism over police brutality and racial inequality ignited by George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Gascón had nearly 54% of the 3 million votes counted when an emotional Lacey conceded, saying that even though votes remained to be counted, her consultants concluded she could not make up the difference.
“Our nation is going through a reckoning, and what happened in my election may one day be listed as a consequence of that,” Lacey said about the discussion over racism and criminal justice reform. “It may be said that one day the results of this election is a result of our season of discontent and a demand to see a tsunami of change.”
The race created an unusual dynamic in which Gascón, 66, a former beat cop and police chief, was fiercely opposed by law enforcement unions and Lacey, 63, the first woman and Black person to run the office, was criticized by Black Lives Matter activists.
Gascón, who co-authored statewide criminal justice reforms, promised to remake the office and hold law enforcement accountable for unjustified killings.
Lacey was seeking a third term on a platform more focused on traditional law-and-order issues like public safety, though she also highlighted her own reform credentials.
– Associated Press (@AP)