LA County DA's race: Candidate Nathan Hochman explains his stance on key issues

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The race for Los Angeles County district attorney is expected to be a tight one.

Voters will decide between incumbent George Gascón and former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman.

Gascón got a little more than 25% of the vote in the March primary and Hochman came in second with nearly 16% of the vote.

Hochman is running as an independent, but he ran as a Republican for California attorney general just two years ago when he lost to Rob Bonta.

Hochman says party affiliation isn't listed on the ballot for DA, and his decision to run as an independent is because he wants to take politics out of the job and focus on safety. He believes Gascon's strategy will be to label him as a Republican.

"I didn't vote for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020. I won't be voting for him in 2024. I'll be voting and supporting Joe Biden," Hochman said. "We want a DA to resolve a case only based on two things - the facts and the law and not a personal political agenda like George Gascón."

Eyewitness News reached out to Gascón's campaign, but they said no comment.

Hochman says he ran as a Republican for AG because that's a partisan position, but the DA's office is not.

During the primary, Gascón said his opponents want to move backwards, but he believes the county is safer than it was four years ago when he was elected. He highlighted how violent crime is down, but Hochman disagrees.

"Violent crime was only down briefly between 2023 and 2022, but 2022 was our most horrible year for violent crime in the last 15 years. We had more homicides that year since roughly 2009. What that means is that in 2023 we had a less horrible year," Hochman said.

Hochman also told Eyewitness News he supports criminal justice reform, which is part of the reason he endorsed Biden and is supportive of his administration's policies on the issue.

Hochman says if elected, he'll keep Gascón's reforms that are working and although he doesn't support L.A. County's zero bail policy, he wouldn't go back to the old cash bail system.

"I actually want to bring a magistrate judge earlier into the process in the first 24 hours to do a risk assessment to see who the true flight risks are," Hochman said.

Voting begins in the L.A. County district attorney's race in a little over five months when ballots are mailed out.