LOS ANGELES, CA – Former Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, whom voters ousted in 2024, has become a recurring talking point against progressive candidates in the Los Angeles mayoral and city attorney races less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 general election.
A political advertisement released this summer claimed Gascón “almost destroyed Los Angeles” and warned that Marissa Roy, a candidate for Los Angeles city attorney, will “do the same.” In October, a separate rumor spread through City Hall and among rank-and-file police officers that City Councilmember Nithya Raman would name Gascón chief of the Los Angeles Police Department if she defeats Mayor Karen Bass.
Gascón said in the week before Oct. 22 that he has no interest in the job and has not spoken with Raman or her team. He declined to comment on anything else. Since his defeat, he has largely stayed out of public life and routinely declines interview requests.
Polls show Roy and Raman favored to win their races, which are among the most closely watched contests on Los Angeles ballots this year. Polls are snapshots of voter preferences during a specific period and do not determine the outcome.
Raman calls police chief rumor a lie
Raman, who represents Council District 4 and is challenging Bass, responded to the rumor in a social media post. She called it a “bizarre lie” and said, “This rumor was created by the Police Union Super PAC, which is spending millions of dollars to re-elect Mayor Bass.”
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the police union that supports Bass, called Raman’s allegation “untrue.” Bass’ campaign said it had nothing to do with the rumor.
Those statements are competing claims from a candidate, a union and a rival campaign, and none has been independently established.
Caruso invokes Gascón at Palisades event
Developer Rick Caruso raised the Gascón rumor on Tuesday, Oct. 20. He spoke at Palisades Village, where he and Bass appeared together to announce progress on Executive Directive 19, including a new Los Angeles Department of Water and Power program called Power Ready LA, according to an announcement from the Office of Mayor Karen Bass. The program is intended to lower upfront utility costs for eligible housing and commercial projects.
Caruso said hiring Gascón as police chief would “take the city into a very dark place.” He added, “I don’t think we need LAPD being a lab experiment for the DSA,” a reference to the Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed Raman. Bass was standing beside him.
Caruso lost to Bass by nearly 10 points in the 2022 mayoral race. He has not endorsed a candidate in this year’s contest and declined to endorse Bass for now.
McDonnell’s job becomes a campaign issue
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell joined the department in 1981 and rose to first assistant chief, according to the department’s biography of him. He became Long Beach police chief in 2010 and was elected Los Angeles County sheriff in 2014. Bass appointed him LAPD chief in November 2024.
At the Oct. 13 mayoral debate, Raman said McDonnell had “lost the trust of Angelenos, especially in response to the ICE raids.” Bass said replacing the chief before the Olympics would send the department into disarray. “We are 640 days away from the largest sporting event to ever take place,” she said.
Raman has given conflicting timelines for replacing McDonnell, according to initial reports, saying he would be replaced before his term ends in late 2029. Former LAPD chief Bill Bratton also weighed in with a social media post praising McDonnell.
City attorney race draws Gascón comparisons
The city attorney race has produced its own comparison. John McKinney, a deputy district attorney endorsed by District Attorney Nathan Hochman, ran an ad saying Roy would not prosecute misdemeanors including trespassing, theft and drug possession. McKinney said that approach is “very reminiscent of George Gascón.”
Roy is a consumer protection attorney with the California Department of Justice. She supported Gascón’s 2024 reelection bid, and her endorsers include Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.
Incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto placed third in the June primary with about 18%, according to initial reports. It was the first time in nearly a century that an incumbent city attorney failed to advance.
Gascón’s directives and his 2024 defeat
Gascón took office in 2020 amid nationwide demands for criminal justice reform after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. He promised to reduce mass incarceration and hold police accountable while also reducing crime.
On his first day, he barred prosecutors from trying juveniles as adults, seeking the death penalty or charging certain misdemeanors. His Special Directive 20-08, effective Dec. 8, 2020, barred filing sentence enhancements, including under the Three Strikes law, in new cases and called for withdrawing them in pending cases, according to the directive.
A 2022 recall effort failed to qualify for the ballot. The county examined 715,833 signatures and found 520,050 valid and 195,783 invalid, short of the 566,857 valid signatures required, according to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s verification announcement. Gascón lost his 2024 reelection bid to Hochman by a wide margin.
Hochman rescinded the special directives
Hochman was sworn in Dec. 3, 2024, as the 44th district attorney of Los Angeles County, the office said in a news release. The office said he announced he would eliminate Gascón’s special directives that limited certain charges and sentencing enhancements.
Among the changes was restoring prosecutors’ ability to pursue sentencing enhancements for defendants who used firearms or whose crimes were committed for the benefit of criminal street gangs. The office also said Hochman rescinded a prohibition against charging juveniles with misdemeanors for stealing merchandise valued at less than $950.
Crime figures frame the public safety debate
Crime statistics are part of the public safety argument in both races. The City of Los Angeles reported in its release of the LAPD’s 2025 crime data report that 2025 ended with 230 homicides, the lowest total since 1966. That was 54 fewer victims than in 2024, a decline of about 19%.
The city summary also said shooting victims fell from 981 to 889 and that 68% of 2025 homicide cases were cleared.
Raman’s Council District 4 office describes its public safety work on its public safety page. The work includes partnership with LAPD senior lead officers and support for CIRCLE unarmed crisis response teams.
Political observers question the strategy
Roy Behr, a Democratic consultant who is not involved in either race, said, “At one point in time, Gascón clearly was box office poison and he may still be.” He compared the strategy to Trump and Republicans invoking Joe Biden’s name whenever they are in trouble.
Behr called both cases “signs of desperation” rather than the invoking of any realistic possibility. That is the assessment of an outside political observer, not an established fact about any campaign’s motives.
Election date is Nov. 3
Los Angeles voters will decide the mayor’s race between Bass and Raman, and the city attorney’s race between Roy and McKinney, in the general election on Nov. 3.
Gascón has said he is not seeking the police chief’s job. Raman, the police union and Bass’ campaign continue to dispute where the rumor came from, and none of the campaigns has announced a plan for the chief’s position beyond the statements made on the campaign trail.
