Progressive, soft-on-crime Portland DA ousted by his own Deputy DA

PORTLAND, OR - Nathan Vasquez has been elected District Attorney in Oregon's Multnomah County, ousting embattled progressive Mike Schmidt, who has been held responsible for much of Portland's lawlessness during his tenure. Vasquez, a former deputy of Schmidt's characterized by many outlets as a centrist, ran on a "tough on crime" platform.

According to The Associated Press, he won the non-partisan primary election with returns of more than 50% of the vote. Schmidt. a George Soros-funded DA who won with 77% of the vote in 2020, reportedly conceded the race when the two spoke Wednesday. In a post to his campaign's Facebook page, Vasquez thanked Schmidt for his past service and the voters for their support.

 

That's a wrap for Portland DA Mike Schmidt—he will lose to a challenger inside his office. Schmidt won his election with 77% of the vote in 2020 and is out in four short years.

Nathan Vasquez will be the next DA of Multnomah County. pic.twitter.com/9YtQi5N1g5

— Michael Pruser (@MichaelPruser) May 22, 2024

 

“The voters have made it clear that they are ready to take our county in a new and safer direction,” Vasquez wrote in his Wednesday message to the voters. “I am committed to ending open air drug dealing and drug use while helping connect individuals to treatment, to rebuilding the broken relationships between the DA’s office and the community and to ensuring that victims are the number one priority of my office."

Speaking with Oregon Public Broadcasting's “Think Out Loud” two days prior, Vasquez was asked about a recent survey of the DA's office which showed 75% of the staff said their job is more stressful than it was before.

Vasquez iterated a clear plan to resolve the situation, saying, “There are a few things that haven’t been done, and I think really need to be, and that’s going to the county Commission for some very specific asks, things such as paralegals. Our office, we have some senior legal assistants, but we haven’t really maximized our efficiency there, and with more paralegals, we’ll be able to really have our attorneys be more dedicated to the legal work as opposed to staff oriented work.

"Also, when we talk about more cases, a lot of those end up being in the misdemeanor level. So they’re not the same heavy lifts that you get with, for example, a murder case, right? And then my goal is to absolutely bring back the community court system and that is a way in which you can efficiently move cases through the system with a lower kind of impact.”

Political commentator Richie Greenberg summarized the situation in a post to X Wednesday, writing, "Another Soros-backed DA, Mike Schmidt, was defeated at the polls yesterday by a tough-on-crime challenger, for Multnomah County, Oregon (Portland) district attorney. Voters send a clear message: Radical "Progressive" DAs must stop dismantling criminal justice."