KTLA

After squeaking through primary race, George Gascón likely to unseat L.A. County DA Jackie Lacey

George Gascón, candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney, speaks during a drive-in election night watch party at the LA Zoo parking lot on Nov. 3, 2020. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Eight months ago, more than a few people were writing George Gascón’s political epitaph.

Sitting roughly 20 points behind incumbent Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey in the March primary for the powerful post, consultants began to question if Gascón had entered the race too late. If he’d failed to broaden his appeal beyond activists. If his campaign had underestimated Lacey’s support in a county where she’d served as the top prosecutor for the better part of a decade.

And even though Gascón split the primary vote with another progressive challenger, former public defender Rachel Rossi, some believed he had underperformed.

But after a summer that saw countless protests calling for criminal justice reform and a number of politicians pull their support from Lacey, Gascón is positioned to take control of the largest district attorney’s office in the nation and deliver an enormous victory to a movement seeking to elect progressive prosecutors across the country.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.