Portland DA Mike Schmidt loses election to Nathan Vasquez after his Soros-backed soft-on-crime policies were blamed for ruining city

Progressive Portland District Attorney Mike Schmidt has conceded victory to a tough challenger after his policies devastated the city.

Schmidt, the prosecutor for Multnomah County, which covers the Oregon city, conceded the race to Nathan Vasquez shortly after 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Voter counting is still underway, but Vasquez has captured about 54% of the votes, while Schmidt is well behind with 45%.

The Soros-backed Progressive Party was elected in 2020 with 77 percent of the vote after promoting a host of “equality” policies, in a province that has not voted for a Republican president since 1960.

Vasquez also works as a prosecutor for Multnomah County, but decided to stand up to his boss after he accused him of destroying the city.

Challenger Nathan Vasquez fired him after promising a tough-on-crime stance

Schmidt released the following statement: “It appears I will not serve another four years as Multnomah County District Attorney.

‘I called Nathan Vasquez to congratulate him on his victory. Although we do not always agree, I am committed to a smooth transition.

“Thank you to this amazing community for the support they have shown for this campaign. And thank you for the opportunity to serve these past four years. It is an honor that I will cherish for a lifetime.’

Schmidt’s loss means he has now become one of the highest-profile victims of a backlash against liberal prosecutors across the country after a brutal election battle against one of his own.

“He has set the bar incredibly low for me, and if I get into office, I will literally try not to trip over that bar,” Vasquez said.

Schmidt was elected in May 2020 just before the death of George Floyd and the riots that pulverized cities across the country.

He vowed not to prosecute rioters unless there was evidence of “intentional property damage, theft or threats of violence,” and of 550 cases referred by police, only 47 were brought to trial.

Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of all hard drugs in 2020, and Schmidt rushed to implement the measure several months before it went into effect statewide.

But the number of fatal opioid overdoses rose from 280 in 2019 to 628 in the first six months of last year, as nearly 800 homeless encampments and open-air drug markets sprang up in the city center.

By September 2022, more than 2,600 businesses had fled the city center as shoppers avoided the city center and shoplifting became more common.

The City Council voted to cut $15 million from the police budget in 2020 in response to the defunding of the police movement.

But the number of murders rose from 57 to a record 96 in Schmidt’s first two years as president.

“What I hear when I knock is, ‘Hey, I consider myself very liberal, but this is going out of line: we’re not being served well,’” Vasquez told Politico.

Portland’s drug deaths rose from 280 in 2019 to 628 in the first six months of last year

Homelessness increased by 65 percent to more than 6,300 between 2015 and 2023

Schmidt vowed not to prosecute the rioters unless there was evidence of “intentional property damage, theft or threats of violence,” and of 550 cases referred by police, only 47 were brought to trial.

“People absolutely want public safety. It doesn’t mean people are completely giving up on the idea of ​​criminal justice reform. They just want it delivered in a pragmatic, practical way.

“It is quite clear that I am the only candidate in this race who is consistently in the office prosecuting serious cases, standing up for victims and providing the current, committed leadership that my fellow prosecutors need day in and day out .’

Vasquez said he was “optimistic and very hopeful” as the results came in and his rival lost ground in the city, to the alarm of some observers.

“There’s a dynamic that’s playing out in Portland, where I think probably the loudest, most politically active, where a lot of opinion leaders live, is not reflective of where the general type of voters in the community are in terms of public safety and crime . , drug use, homelessness,” John Horvick of polling firm DHM Research told Oregon Live.

Political professor Todd Lochner said the same pattern is likely to play out across the country.

“Early around 2020 you see the rise of the progressive prosecutor, but some of those candidates were actually replaced or recalled,” he told the Free Press.

Several major employers, including Umpqua Bank, have closed due to the mass exodus carried out by owners who have objected to rising crime rates – and the city’s inability to address it

“I think what’s going on now in the district attorney race has something to do with this reaction to what is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as prosecutors not being as diligent in convicting people as some may be.” would like.

“In general, tough on crime sells well.

“Most voters routinely say crime is important to them. We know that homelessness is a very important issue.

“And I would expect that if people see that those problems aren’t significantly improving, they would vote for the challenger under the assumption that, well, let’s let someone else give it a try.”