California residents voted to elect Nathan Hochman as Los Angeles District Attorney and unseat George Gascón, who came to office in 2020.
Hochman is a former federal prosecutor, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s tax division, LA Ethics Commission President and assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. He was born and raised in Los Angeles.
Hochman ran his campaign as an independent with no party preference, stating the DA must be independent and not connected to any party or political ideology.
“I thought that nothing said to voters more how I would run the office than if I become registered as an independent, that’s exactly how I’ll run office, independent of politics,” Hochman said to the Long Beach Current.
Hochman previously ran for California attorney general as a Republican in 2022.
“I’ve been a centrist my whole life, a Democrat for the first 20 years, the next 20 as a Republican, but for running for the DA position, it’s a non-partisan position,” Hochman said.
His reasons for running for DA focused on his disappointment in how L.A.’s public safety had worsened over the past few years.
“On my day one, we will bring back what I have called a ‘Hard Middle Approach,’ and it’s based on hard work because it involves looking at each case on an individual basis as opposed to a blanket policy we now have in place,” Hochman said. “It’s a rejection of the extremes we have seen in the last years like mass incarceration and pro-criminal de-incarcerations”
Going after criminals will be part of a methodology, and he said in order to live up to his promises as the newly elected DA, he needs to turn words into action starting on day one.
“I need to address strongly the culture of lawlessness that the prior DA’s policies has been promoting and emboldening and that starts on day one,” Hochman said.
According to Hochman, in order to gain the public’s trust, “you have to show the public that you’re listening to them, that you understand what they are going through on a daily basis,” he said. “We need to make sure that law enforcement understands that it has a partner in the DA’s office.”
Hochman said solutions he offers are not focused on politics. The facts and the law will be what is used when making decisions in the district attorney’s office, and he plans to not inject political agendas into that.
“The criminals will understand that there is no more free passes,” Hochman said.
Hochman’s LA County District Attorney term starts on Dec. 2.