LOS ANGELES –Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom threw his support behind George Gascón to be LA’s next District Attorney. In announcing his support he said:
“In 2009 I first turned to George Gascón to lead the San Francisco Police Department because of his track record of getting results,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Sixteen months later police were actively engaging the community and homicides had plummeted by more than 50 percent. That’s why, in my last act as a Mayor, I turned to him once more to succeed then-DA Kamala Harris. Over the next nine years he famously reduced crime while reducing incarceration, and he burnished a national reputation as a leader in the fight to reform our dated system of justice. This November Angelenos will choose who to turn to as calls to reimagine our dated system of justice grow louder, and I urge them to join me once again in turning to George Gascón.”
“Governor Newsom continues to demonstrate the hallmarks of leadership,” said former District Attorney and Assistant Chief of the LAPD, George Gascón. “From his rapid response to the pandemic to his courageous moratorium on the death penalty, this is a Governor that is willing to make the difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions that are backed by data and science. He has been an ardent supporter of criminal justice reform, and he has been a friend, and I am incredibly honored to have his support.”
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George Gascón is the Democratic Party’s nominee. He is endorsed by the LA Times, the LA Daily News, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamal
Mr. Gascón grew up in Los Angeles after his family immigrated from Cuba. An army veteran, Gascón served as a Los Angeles Police Department Officer for 30 years, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief of Operations. In 2006 he became Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona, where he stood up to the hateful and anti-immigrant policies of then Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 2009, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón Chief of Police. Newsom turned to Gascón again in 2011 when he tapped him to be District Attorney to fill the seat vacated by an outgoing Kamala Harris who had been elected Attorney General. During his tenure Gascón implemented reforms that are being duplicated across the country while overseeing violent crime and homicides drop to rates not seen in 50 years. After being elected to two terms, Gascón returned to Los Angeles to care for his elderly mother and to be closer to his two daughters and grandchildren in Long Beach. Gascón is married to Fabiola Kramsky, a three-time Emmy Award winning journalist and recipient of the “Premio Nacional de Periodismo,” the highest recognition given to journalists in Mexico.