Running on a tough-on-crime ticket, a centrist district attorney candidate in Oregon defeated his incumbent progressive opponent.
In the past, Nathan Vasquez assisted Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt as a deputy prosecutor. The nonpartisan primary election on Tuesday was won by Vasquez, who received more than 50% of the vote, according to the results.
Several law enforcement organizations supported Vasquez, who claimed that on a Wednesday phone call, Schmidt admitted losing the election. He spent more than 20 years in the DA’s office as a prosecutor.
“I want to thank him for his professionalism and service to our community,” Vasquez stated in a post on his campaign Facebook page. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the DA’s office, with community partners, and with the public to help build a safer Multnomah County for all of us.”
Days before George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota and demands for reforms to the criminal justice system arose over racial justice demonstrations in Portland and other cities throughout the country, Schmidt took office.
Around the same time, other DAs in liberal strongholds like San Francisco and Seattle were sworn in, although they have since had difficulties as a result of public annoyance with crime.
In an effort to lower incarceration rates and rectify socioeconomic injustices in the criminal justice system, these district attorneys have often advocated for the discovery of alternatives to incarceration and abstained from pursuing minor offenses.
Critics claim that these laws encourage illegal activity and endanger public safety.
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Soon after assuming office, Portland was rocked by racial justice protests, with street disorder breaking out almost nightly for several months.
Schmidt declared that unless demonstrators were detained for intentional property destruction, theft, or using or threatening to use force against another individual, his office would not prosecute them.
His office would turn down instances including criminal trespass, disruptive conduct, and interfering with a police officer.
Along with Schmidt’s backing for a 2020 ballot initiative that decriminalized the possession of minor amounts of drugs, Vasquez revealed the policy.
Amid one of the worst surges in overdose deaths in the country, state lawmakers earlier this year repealed the law and reinstated criminal penalties for so-called “personal use” possession.
Schmidt agreed with the action.
In his message, Vasquez stated that he was “committed to ending open-air drug dealing and drug use while helping connect individuals to treatment, to rebuilding the broken relationships between the DA’s office and the community, and to ensuring that victims are the number one priority of my office.”
