George Gascon is arguably the worst DA in the country now that Chesa Boudin is gone. His office continues to be a disaster area with a massive backlog of cases. He is well-liked by criminals and not trusted by victims. He has been found liable for retaliation against his critics. He doesn’t have the support or respect of the majority of his own deputy DAs.

Two efforts to recall him failed (though the 2nd one came close) so now the best chance to remove him from office is going to be by defeating him at the ballot box. Yesterday, two new challengers jumped into the race to unseat him.

Long time deputy district attorney Eric Siddall has joined the race to become Los Angeles’ next District Attorney.

Siddall, the Vice President of the Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys for the past decade until he stepped aside last week to run, has been an unrelenting critic of current District Attorney George Gascon.

In the past, Siddall has hammered Gascon for basic incompetence, running the “office like a TV show,” and being guided by “ideology and politics” rather than by the law or ethics.

Siddall’s basic pitch is that he’s somewhere in the middle, i.e. not an old school prosecutor he supports some reforms but also not someone who is going to create the level of chaos and dysfunction that Gascon has in office:

In an interview earlier this month, Siddall painted himself as a centrist Democrat who can find a way to implement reforms without alienating his own prosecutors.

“If you want a progressive office that functions and not a progressive office that is completely dysfunctional and doesn’t actually get any of the job done, then I’m your candidate,” he said.

The other candidate who jumped into the race yesterday was LA Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell.

Mitchell, who is making his first attempt for public office is a highly regarded jurist who’s work with the homeless has brought him national attention…

“As a Judge serving on the bench for 18 years, I am deeply distressed and disappointed that our District Attorney (Gascon) places criminals over victims and ideology over common sense,” stated Mitchell.

“I am running for District Attorney to restore common sense to our justice system.”…

“George Gascon may be well-intentioned, but he does not understand how his policies are increasing crime and empowering criminals,” stated Judge Mitchell.

“He has never tried a single case, and that lack of experience is making Los Angeles County dangerous,” cautioned the candidate.

Mitchell has been on the bench for 18 years and told the LA Times that he was motivated to run against Gascon because of some of the cases he’s seen come through his courtroom.

He recounted an assault case in which a person who had been stabbed 13 times stood in his court and expressed shock at the light sentence handed to their attacker because of Gascón’s policy blocking the filing of an enhancement for causing great bodily injury that could have added as much as six years to the defendant’s prison term.

Mitchell also pointed to a situation last month in which he said a defendant charged with trafficking “20 kilos of methamphetamine” was given just three days in jail and probation under the terms of a deal worked out with the district attorney’s office.

Mitchell and Siddall join three other candidates , all deputy DAs, who joined the race earlier: Jonathan Hatami, John McKinney and Maria Ramirez. Any of these candidates would be an improvement over George Gascon.

Had the 2nd recall made it onto the ballot polls indicated there was a very good chance that Gascon would have been recalled. Hopefully, the voters of LA County have had enough of Gascon’s extremism and still remember why they were on the verge of ousting him last year.