Billionaire developer Rick Caruso endorses Nathan Hochman for LA County DA

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Billionaire developer Rick Caruso announced Tuesday he is endorsing Nathan Hochman for Los Angeles County district attorney.

Caruso said he's back on the campaign trail not as a candidate, but as an Angeleno worried about the possibility of four more years of current DA George Gascón.

The former L.A. mayoral candidate joined Hochman at Casa Vega restaurant in Sherman Oaks, where the two held a roundtable with crime victims in an effort to encourage voters to pay attention to the race. Early voting begins in just over three months.

"I want to use my endorsements where it matters and where I can make a difference," Caruso told reporters. "There's not a more important race, in my opinion, in the state of California than this race. It really will change the trajectory of this region, which I think then changes the trajectory of this state."

Gascón, who was once a Republican just like Caruso and Hochman, released a statement that said: "Between today's announcement and having Steve Cooley chair his campaign, Mr. Hochman seems to have decided that trumpeting the support of longtime Republicans is his best path in this election - an odd choice for heavily Democratic Los Angeles."

But Hochman and Caruso said it's Gascón who has made the DA's office political, and both believe that's made L.A. County less safe.

Hochman said he's honored and humbled to receive Caruso's endorsement.

"Listen, learn and lead is what I will take to the DA's office because George Gascón has failed all three," Hochman said. "He has refused to listen to the over 750 deputy district attorney's that he supposedly says he leads. In fact, he's a leader without followers."

Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who once ran for California attorney general as a Republican, emerged from a field of 10 other challengers to advance to November's runoff against Gascón.