As I pointed out last month, fundraising totals suggest there is not a lot of enthusiasm for George Gascon to continue as Los Angeles DA for a second term.

Nathan Hochman, the criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor who is challenging incumbent George Gascón for the seat, has raised nearly $3.9 million for his campaign as of Sept. 16. That’s over five times more than Gascón, whose fundraising stands at around $678,000.

Often when you see a candidate run up a big fundraising tally like that you find out they were getting a lot of out of town or even out of state money. But in this case it's actually the current DA, George Gascon who is getting more money from progressives outside LA County. Just 57% of Gascon's meager haul came from the county where he works. For Hochman the figure was 83%.

Monday, a new poll was released which once again shows that Gascon is heading for defeat.

The survey, conducted by researchers at USC, CSU Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona, shows Gascón trailing his challenger by 24 points. About 44% of likely voters said they plan to support Hochman while 20% back Gascón. Nearly 33% of voters remain undecided, according to the poll.

Those results are almost identical to an LA Times pull published just over a month ago. That poll found Hochman leading Gascon 45% to 20%.

The two candidates were part of a moderated candidate forum last weekend and it went about as you'd expect, with Hochman pointing to Gascon's record on crime and Gascon whining about mass incarceration.

The two candidates described each other's plans as extreme, with Gascón saying Hochman is someone who vows to put everyone in jail.

"Basically going back to the days of mass incarceration," he said.

Hochman portrayed Gascón as someone who wants every criminal to walk free.

"They'll be arrested in the morning and out by the afternoon," he said...

"People's eyes don't lie, but Mr. Gascón does."

Gascon is not well loved which is one reason I can point to at least three different opinion pieces published in the past week, all of them saying that he deserves to lose. Here's one example.

District attorneys in other California counties have lambasted Gascón and publicly stated that they would not share jurisdiction on cases with him. Most of the prosecutors in his office voted to support recall attempts against their own boss. Gascón’s  arrogance has disallowed him from appreciating the fact that he has gone too far. 

He has been overly confident that he knows best while forgetting about the need to not look crazy to voters and his prosecutors, which is why he’s now probably going to lose his position...

It appears to be the case that he desired to exercise absolute rule over his prosecutors, didn’t tolerate dissent, and allegedly dislodged those who expressed legitimate concerns. This led to most of them wanting him gone. 

He’s not a leader, he’s an overconfident idealist with no leadership skills.

Despite all of this, Gascon is still pursuing his far-left agenda even in the final days of his term.

Esther Lim has a new job – she’s now a “special assistant” to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon.

Lim is not an attorney.

What she is a “social justice warrior” par excellence.

And why could Lim’s name be familiar? Because she has been at the center of some of the most awful “criminal justice” movements in Los Angeles and the state for the past decade.

You can read more about Lim at the link above. She's a de-incarceration activist "responsible for developing & advancing a 'care first, jails last' agenda." That pretty much sums up Gascon's tenure. He's one of the worst DA's in the country and LA will be better off without him.

There is one more debate coming up on Oct. 8 which will be Gascon's last chance to try to turn this around. But unless Hochman has a heart attack on stage I don't see it going Gascon's way. He's not a strong speaker or a good debater. He's a bully who (allegedly) used his position to retaliate against employees who disagree with him. He's been sued more than a dozen times for workplace retaliation and has already lost one case to the tune of $1.5 million.