WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Fed-up Democrats in San Francisco and Los Angeles, liberal-leaning California cities reeling from Covid-era spikes in homicides and gun violence, may punish their own party at the polls next week over its criminal justice policies.
San Francisco’s progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin is likely to be pushed out of office in a recall vote, while voters in Los Angeles will be choosing a new mayor – with an ex-Republican as a leading candidate.
The results could send a blinking-red warning to Democrats ahead of November’s midterm elections.
In congressional and local races across the United States, Republicans have seized upon calls by progressives to reduce police department budgets and other liberal criminal justice policies to paint almost all Democratic candidates as lenient on crime.
Democrats have struggled to formulate a persuasive rebuttal, even as a new wave of moderates, such as New York Mayor Eric Adams, has urged them to take a more tough-on-crime approach.
In April, the pollster Gallup found concern over crime was at its highest level since 2016, with 53 per cent of Americans saying they worried “a great deal” about it. An ABC/Washington Post poll in May showed Americans trusted the Republican Party over Democrats to handle crime by 12 percentage points.
But focus groups also show Americans increasingly worried about the proliferation of firearms. That is an issue that Democratic consultants said the party’s candidates could hone in on, shoring up their support with suburban and Black voters by explicitly tying lax gun laws to surges in crime.
“It is absolutely something Democrats can and should be using to combat against the increasing narrative of their being soft on crime,” said Ms Angela Kuefler, a strategist who advises Democratic candidates on gun issues.
Ms Kuefler noted there is widespread public support for enhanced background checks of gun purchasers and actions to decrease the flow of illegal guns into cities.
A series of mass shootings – including last week’s at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead – has reignited the US debate over policing and guns.
President Joe Biden has tried to balance a push for changes in policing from the more radical wing of his party with voters’ concerns about security. An executive order last week, for instance, established guidelines for the use of deadly force by federal law enforcement officers.
Mr Boudin, on the other hand, embraced a strong progressive agenda in San Francisco – and appears to be paying the price.
He was elected in San Francisco in 2019 after pledging a series of reforms, saying he would not try juveniles as adults, would not push for sentencing enhancements for certain crimes that can add years to prison sentences, and would not seek cash bail for any defendant.
He largely followed through on his promises, which also included diverting low-level offenders away from incarceration to reduce the city’s jail population.
