The campaign to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón handed in 717,000 signatures to the county registrar on Wednesday — 26% more than the required target of 566,857 voters, in case some of the signatures are rejected.
NORWALK, CA – JULY 06: Imelda Hernandez, whose son Christian David Silva was murdered Feb. 22, 2020, cheers after a truck arrives with over 700,000 petition signatures in an effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón to be submited to the County of Los Angeles Registrar Recorder/County Clerk office on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 in Norwalk, CA. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
According to Bill Melugin of Fox News, the campaign surpassed its goal of 700,000, and brought in an additional 150,000 in the few weeks since two police officers were ambushed by a man who was only free because of Gascón’s lenient policies.
As Breitbart News reported earlier Wednesday, the campaign reached its target — 10% of all registered voters in Los Angeles County — in mid-June, but continued collecting more signatures. The effort is the largest petition in the history of the county.
Los Angeles, CA – July 06: Organizers deliver 717 thousand signatures needed to start a recall of embattled District Attorney George Gascon in front of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
A similar effort fizzled in 2021, but activists and organizers had built more public support the second time through.
The campaign hopes to recall Gascón, who was elected in 2020 with the backing of millions of dollars in spending by left-wing billionaire George Soros. San Francisco voters recalled their own radical district attorney, Chesa Boudin, last month.
NORWALK, CA – JULY 06: Emma Rivas, of Torrance, whose son Christopher Beasley was murdered Sept. 25, 2016, along with organizers of an effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón submit over 700,000 petitions signatures to the County of Los Angeles Registrar Recorder/County Clerk office on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 in Norwalk, CA. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Both San Francisco and Los Angeles have suffered crime waves in the midst of Democratic Party efforts to enact “criminal justice reform” and to appease the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement, which include defunding the police.
Los Angeles, CA – July 06: Imelda Hernandez, of La Habra protests as she holds a picture of her son Christian David Silva, who was murdered in Los Angeles County as organizers deliver 717 thousand signatures needed to start a recall of embattled District Attorney George Gascon in front of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Norwalk on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
If the signatures are verified, following legal challenges, a recall of Gascón could well appear on the November ballot in L.A.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.