George Gascón

George Gascón was the Los Angeles County District Attorney in California. He assumed office on December 7, 2020. He left office on December 1, 2024.

Gascón ran for re-election for Los Angeles County District Attorney in California. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Gascón identifies as a Democrat, according to his campaign website.^[1]

Biography

George Gascón served in the United States Army from 1972 to 1975. He earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach, in 1977 and a J.D. from Western State University College of Law in 1996. Gascón's career experience includes working as the San Francisco district attorney, San Fransisco police chief, Mesa, Arizona police chief, LAPD assistant chief, and an LAPD police officer.^[2]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Nathan Hochman defeated incumbent George Gascón in the general election for Los Angeles County District Attorney on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Nathan Hochman (Nonpartisan)	59.9	1,983,802
	George Gascón (Nonpartisan)	40.1	1,328,710

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,312,512
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney

The following candidates ran in the primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Gascón (Nonpartisan)	25.2	370,654
✔		Nathan Hochman (Nonpartisan)	15.9	234,509
		Jonathan Hatami (Nonpartisan)	13.2	194,755
		Debra Archuleta (Nonpartisan)	8.5	125,306
		Jeff Chemerinsky (Nonpartisan)	7.9	116,064
	Submit photo	Maria Ramirez (Nonpartisan)	7.1	105,088
		John McKinney (Nonpartisan)	6.0	87,903
		Eric Siddall (Nonpartisan)	5.6	82,993
		David Sherman Milton (Nonpartisan)	4.3	63,044
	Submit photo	Craig Mitchell (Nonpartisan)	3.0	44,326
		Lloyd Masson (Nonpartisan)	2.0	29,306
		Daniel Kapelovitz (Nonpartisan)	1.2	17,622

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,471,570
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Gascón in this election.

2020

General election

General election for Los Angeles County District Attorney

George Gascón defeated incumbent Jackie Lacey in the general election for Los Angeles County District Attorney on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	George Gascón (Nonpartisan)	53.5	2,002,865
	Jackie Lacey (Nonpartisan)	46.5	1,738,617

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,741,482
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Incumbent Jackie Lacey and George Gascón defeated Rachel Rossi in the primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jackie Lacey (Nonpartisan)	48.7	869,127
✔		George Gascón (Nonpartisan)	28.2	504,088
	Submit photo	Rachel Rossi (Nonpartisan)	23.1	413,231

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,786,446
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

George Gascón did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

George Gascón completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gascón's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

When I arrived in the United States from Cuba at 13, I did not speak English and struggled in school. I dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Army where I earned my high school diploma. Later, I attended CSU Long Beach graduating with a B.A in History. I then joined the LAPD, rising through the ranks to become the Assistant Chief of Operations, while simultaneously earning my Law Degree from Western State University. I was recruited to become the Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona and battled against the nationally known anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I took our fight to the US Congress providing testimony exposing the human/civil rights abuses unfolding in Arizona. That resulted in me being asked to leave Mesa. Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom recruited me to serve as San Francisco's Chief of Police. I was the SF Chief of Police for 16 months helping to reduce murders from 98 annually to 45. Thereafter, I was appointed to be District Attorney and later ran successfully for two terms, pushing a nationally recognized agenda of reform and community safety. I'm back home and running to replace Jackie Lacey as DA, because LA County deserves a more effective and progressive DA that enhances community safety without over incarcerating our communities.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I will implement programs to end mass incarceration by working to end money bail, ending the practice of trying children as adults, and implementing a "Crime Strategies Unit" to focus resources on the most harmful offenders. As DA, I reduced the jail population by nearly 30% while simultaneously reducing violent crime to historic lows, showing that we can simultaneously lower incarceration rates without compromising public safety. Diversion and reentry programs are also key. In San Francisco, I pioneered "Make It Right," a restorative justice program for juveniles which saw participants reoffend at less than ¼ the rate of those who went through the traditional process.
I will hold law enforcement accountable to help rebuild the trust between the community and law enforcement officers. As DA I prosecuted over 30 police officers and created the state's first independent investigations bureau to enhance transparency and eliminate the conflict of interest that occurs when police investigate themselves. I was the only DA in CA to advocate for a state law for stricter standards for when police may use force, and have committed to reopening at least 4 fatal officer-involved-shootings that our current DA has declined to charge. Lastly, I have not accepted any donations from police unions and have called for an end to police union contributions to DA races statewide.
I will bring focus and attention to the issue of sexual assault and harassment. As San Francisco District Attorney, I prosecuted more than double the national average of sex assault cases. I successfully fought to test every backlogged rape kit. I implemented a Sexual Assault Response Team and enhanced office training and education on effective communication with survivors of sexual assault. I created a campus sexual assault task force and a dedicated Child Abuse and Sexual Assault (CASA) Unit to prosecute sex crimes. As Los Angeles District Attorney, I am determined to build a strong response, support and prevention infrastructure to put an end to sexual harassment and assault in Los Angeles.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Making our communities safer and more equitable is my life's work. While public safety is a top priority for my time in office, so is justice. I am committed to ending mass incarceration in a County that has seen a 30% violent crime increase during our incumbent DA's two terms, yet continues to maintain the biggest jail system in the country

The blunt instrument of prison has proven ineffective and inefficient as a way to address crime, yet the current District Attorney continues to send people to prison at a rate higher than 70% of California's prosecutors. While serving as District Attorney of San Francisco, I worked tirelessly to reduce jail and prison populations, and tackle bias by keeping demographic information about suspects from prosecutors as they decide whether to bring charges. And despite incarcerating people at ¼ the rate of Los Angeles, violent crime in San Francisco dropped more quickly than it did in LA.

I am seeking to bring this same approach to Los Angeles-ensuring public safety and reducing crime, while also reforming the overburdened and outdated prison pipeline currently in place.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

In high school, I worked 20 hours a week as a "box boy" at a local supermarket. Though only 14 at the time, I pretend to be 16 to satisfy the minimum age requirement. As it was a union job, I actually made more than my parents did, allowing me to help support my family. I held this job until I dropped out of high school to join the US Army.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign website

Gascón’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Sexual Assault – Protecting and Holding Abusers Accountable

As District Attorney, Gascón prosecuted more than double the national average of sexual assault cases and successfully fought to test every backlogged rape kit. He reduced the average days to conviction by over 20% in a single year between 2016 and 2017 and implemented a Sexual Assault Response Team, enhanced office training and education on effective communication with survivors of sexual assault, created a campus sexual assault task force, and created a dedicated Child Abuse and Sexual Assault (CASA) Unit to prosecute sex crimes. He brought full-time facility dogs to the office to assist victims in the most difficult of circumstances, and implemented an annual Red Zone public education campaign to promote awareness around the first six weeks of school in which college students are 50 percent more likely to be sexually assaulted than they are at any other time. He worked with Colleges and Universities to create agreements with law enforcement and community based organizations to work together with victims in order to connect them with services as soon as possible, regardless of whether or not they choose to file a police report. Gascón also implemented a Safe Bars partnership which worked with staff and owners of bars, clubs and restaurants to implement a bystander intervention program.

Addressing Police Violence, Holding Law Enforcement Accountable, and Increasing Transparency

Gascón began his 40-year career in law enforcement as a beat cop with the LAPD. He personally faced circumstances where he could have used force but chose not to. Later he oversaw LAPD’s use of force review process, taught use of force policy to supervisors, made decisions related to suspensions and terminations as Assistant Chief of the LAPD and then as Chief of Police for two big-city police departments, and as San Francisco District Attorney he prosecuted more than 30 police officers for criminal conduct, including excessive force. He is the nation’s only former Chief of Police to be appointed DA.

Following two racist and homophobic text messaging scandals at the San Francisco Police Department, Gascón launched an investigation into a toxic culture that enabled racism to fester and resulted in over 80 recommendations for reform, many of which the department subsequently made. Later, Gascón created the state’s first independent investigations bureau to enhance transparency and eliminate the conflict of interest that occurs when police investigate themselves in the aftermath of a critical incident.

Mr. Gascón was also the only law enforcement official in the state to advocate for successful state legislation that created a stricter standard for when police may use force. Mr. Gascón asked every prosecutor in California to join him in supporting the law, including incumbent DA Jackie Lacey, but he stood alone among law enforcement in pushing this necessary reform.

Gascón has unparalleled expertise on this issue. Read his detailed proposal for Law Enforcement Accountability by clicking here.

Additionally, Gascón has pledged to re-open four fatal officer-involved shootings that DA Lacey has declined to prosecute. Read the announcement by clicking here.

Taking LADA into the 21st Century

As District Attorney, Gascón would implement a Crime Strategies Unit (CSU) as he did in San Francisco, a multi-disciplinary team of prosecutors, analysts and investigators that use a data-driven approach to resourcefully address chronic crime and repeat offenders. CSU’s approach in San Francisco has been credited with multiple major organized crime takedowns, including Operations Wrecking Ball and Cold Day, the latter of which netted the most arrests in a single day ever for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a federal agency. Gascón would also implement a Gun Enforcement Unit (GEU) to ensure recovered weapons and ammunition is adequately mined for evidence and can be tied to crimes and dangerous persons.

Money Bail

Gascón was the first elected prosecutor in the nation to propose an end to money bail because money is not a sufficient proxy for risk. In 2016, Gascón implemented the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) which makes custody decisions based on risk rather than how much money one has. Statistics suggest that defendants released on money bail are about twice as likely to commit another crime pretrial compared to defendants released based on a recommendation from the tool. As a result, making these decisions based on risk rather than ability to pay is not only more equitable, it’s also yielding better results for our community’s safety. If elected, Gascón will work to eliminate the use of money bail.

On Behavioral Health and Its Nexus to Homelessness

More than half of all people incarcerated in prisons and jails have a mental illness: 56 percent of state prisoners, 45 percent of federal prisoners, and 64 percent of jail inmates. Of those who have a mental illness, about three-quarters also have a co-occurring substance use disorder.

Correctional facilities are fundamentally places of punishment and control, not treatment and rehabilitation. By necessity, security within a jail or prison is paramount, making it difficult to create and maintain an effective system of mental health care. By virtue of their very nature— from their architectural design to the manner in which they are routinely operated—jails and prisons tend to exacerbate mental illness. As a result, adding treatment services to traditional jail facilities will never adequately address this inherent problem.

Ultimately, you simply cannot resolve our behavioral health crisis with a law enforcement response. The use of police, prosecutors and jails results in individuals being released without adequate medication or prescriptions. Failure to adequately prepare for community reentry and continuation of mental health services can exacerbate psychiatric conditions and increase the likelihood of addiction, homelessness, and recidivism.

The most widely accepted, evidence-based practice for treating such individuals is Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment, which treats both mental health and substance abuse disorders simultaneously and in the same setting. Therefore, if elected I would work to implement regional Behavioral Health facilities where law enforcement would work hand in hand with public health officials.

Additionally, programs like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) must be expanded and embraced as they have proven to outperform traditional approaches to this difficult population. LEAD is an innovative pre-booking diversion program that refers repeat, low-level drug offenders at high risk of recidivism at the earliest contact with law enforcement to community-based health and social services as an alternative to jail and prosecution.

The program is based on a model developed in Seattle which has seen excellent results. Evaluations of Seattle’s program revealed that participants were 58% less likely than people in the control group to be rearrested, and found statistically significant reductions for the LEAD group compared to the control group in average yearly criminal justice and legal system utilization and associated costs.

Law Enforcement’s Role During Covid-19

Jails are breeding grounds for this disease, and staff and individuals alike that exit the system daily are prone to take Covid-19 with them back into our communities. A healthier community is a safer community, and individuals who do not pose a danger to our safety must be released and their prosecutions must be put on hold until after the pandemic passes.

The Death Penalty

Gascón is opposed to the death penalty and has never sought to condemn someone to death. State sanctioned killings do not deter crime, but in light of the unequal application of the death penalty to communities of color it does inflict an extraordinary amount of harm to the moral authority of our justice system. It wastes a massive amount of taxpayer resources and creates an unnecessary risk that the state will put an innocent person to death.

California has spent more than $5 billion since 1978 prosecuting death penalty cases and maintaining a death row that houses approximately 737 inmates. During that time, however, only 13 death sentences have been carried out at an outrageous cost of $384 million per execution. The death penalty is morally dubious at best and Gascón believes it’s time to end it.

Victims

Gascón believes that victims of crime need the utmost care and consideration in order to ensure that they get the services they need to address the trauma that they’ve suffered. This is as important to their healing as it is to our community’s safety, as hurt people hurt people, with victims of crime being disproportionately likely to turn to crime themselves.

As DA in San Francisco, Gascón increased the number of victims served by 75 percent and worked to overhaul the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board through his sponsorship of AB 1140.

Environmental Justice

Gascón has used his offices’ power to hold both individuals and corporations accountable for actions harming the environment. As San Francisco’s DA he cracked down on corporate polluters, fighting to hold an oil tanker accountable after spilling 422 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay in 2009. Gascón also held California Walgreens accountable after over 600 stores throughout the state dumped hazardous medical waste, full of toxic and flammable materials. Walgreens Company paid $16.67 million in settlement costs. In addition to prosecuting large corporations and oil companies, Gascón reprimanded individual polluters, charging those who incorrectly disposed of hazardous waste from restaurants and other shops. Beyond using the traditional powers of the District Attorney’s office to prosecute polluters, Gascón is committed to diverting public funds away from jails and applying them towards public goods like parks in environmental deserts.

Public Corruption

As San Francisco District Attorney, Gascón was committed to fighting for a clean government that worked for the people. He formed a joint task force with the FBI to investigate public corruption within San Francisco’s City Hall, allocating more funds for labor and time intensive corruption investigations. Gascón prosecuted officials from the Mayor’s campaign committee over illegal contributions and pay-to-play politics, and held accountable school board members who spent money meant for student services on themselves. If elected, Gascón would bring the same level of accountability to Los Angeles County.

Children in the Justice System

Under Gascón’s leadership San Francisco experienced a dramatic decline in youth crime, arrest and incarceration rates, and became the first major city in the U.S. to close a juvenile hall. Two programs implemented by Gascón that are being duplicated across the country are:

Make It Right, a program for justice involved juveniles which sees participants reoffend at less than ¼ the rate of those who go through the traditional process.

Young Adult Court, a program designed to address the unique needs of young adults ages 18-25, an age group that is disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system.

Drug Policy

Gascón co-authored Proposition 47 to unwind California’s involvement in the war on drugs and save California $800,000 per day that is being reinvested in K-12 education and victim, substance abuse and mental health services. He also started a national movement when he proactively applied Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana, to dismiss and seal thousands of marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. Gascón was recently honored by the Drug Policy Alliance for his achievements in the Field of Law at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference.

Immigration

Gascón immigrated to Los Angeles from Cuba when he was 13. He has been a major advocate for immigrant rights, having taken on Joe Arpaio when he was Chief of Police in Mesa, AZ, and leading state legislative efforts to ensure immigrants aren’t targeted with inappropriate questioning about their status when they take the stand. He implemented a court escort policy in the era of ICE agents in courtrooms in order to ensure that every resident of our community has equal access to our courthouses and our system of justice.

Prosecutorial Transparency

Gascón launched the state’s first online portal for prosecutorial data enabling community members to review office performance metrics. If elected, he would introduce a similar tool in LA.^[3]

”

—George Gascón’s campaign website (2020)^[4]

External links

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Candidate

Los Angeles County District Attorney

Personal

Footnotes

↑ George Gascón, "Home," accessed October 12, 2020
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 6, 2020
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ George Gascón's 2020 campaign website, “On the Issues,” accessed October 20, 2020

Political offices
Preceded by -	Los Angeles County District Attorney 2020-2024	Succeeded by Nathan Hochman
Preceded by -	San Francisco District Attorney 2011-2019	Succeeded by -

[1] George Gascón, "Home," accessed October 12, 2020

[bio-2] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 6, 2020

[quotedisclaimer-3] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[4] George Gascón's 2020 campaign website, “On the Issues,” accessed October 20, 2020

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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George Gascón

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Endorsements

2020

General election

General election for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2020

Campaign website

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

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