In the hotly contested LA County District Attorney's race, George Gascón is holding onto a significant lead over incumbent Jackie Lacey.
Gascón is a former LAPD Assistant Chief of Police and San Francisco D.A. while Lacey is trying to hold onto her third term as Los Angeles District Attorney.
"I just want to say how deeply thankful we are,” he said.
Instead of getting together with supporters at an election night party, Gascon, in true pandemic fashion, addressed campaign volunteers via a sometimes awkward Zoom meeting.
Gascon, a former San Francisco District Attorney and LAPD assistant chief who also co-authored Prop 47, presented himself as the reformer.
“I have my own revolution but I think actually what a lot of people don’t understand is I saw the failures of the system first hand,” he says.
Lacey, LA County first Black and first female DA, had strong support from law enforcement unions and came off as the tough-on-crime candidate, a label she described as "unfair.”
"I'm more conservative I’m sure than a lot of the newer DA’s who call themselves progressive but the tough on crime label is false,” she says.
Lacey touted her efforts to change the system, such as the creation of a conviction review unit, which has exonerated a few wrongly convicted people.
Protesters regularly gathered outside Lacey office to demand prosecutions of police officers for fatal shootings. She insisted those are decisions that should be based on facts and evidence, not on demonstrations.
Lacey and her husband, David, are also being sued by LA’s Black Lives Matter movement. David Lacey stands accused of allegedly pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters at the couple’s home in March. David Lacey allegedly said "I will shoot you" to the Black Lives Matter protesters in March one day before the primary election outside the couple's home. In August, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed three misdemeanor counts against David for assault with a firearm for the March 2 incident.