Is the tide turning?
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/05/21/democrats-beware-progressive-da-fights-portland-00159065
But on Tuesday, the voters of Multnomah County, the surrounding jurisdiction and a county that has not voted Republican for president since 1960, could replace their incumbent district attorney, Mike Schmidt, with a man who was in the GOP until after Donald Trump became president.
“What I hear when I’m knocking on doors, is ‘Hey, I consider myself very liberal but this is out of step — we’re not getting served well,’” said Nathan Vasquez, a longtime prosecutor in the county office and now unaffiliated voter who’s challenging his boss, adding: “People definitely want public safety. It doesn’t mean people are wholly abandoning the idea of criminal justice reform. They just want it delivered in a pragmatic, practical way.”
Should Vasquez prevail, it would represent more than the rejection of a progressive prosecutor. It would be the culmination of simmering local frustration with crime, homelessness and drug abuse and a resounding correction to the shift left on criminal justice that took place here and in so many cities in 2020.