A centrist district attorney candidate in Oregon ousted his incumbent progressive opponent after running on a tough-on-crime platform.
Nathan Vazquez previously served as a deputy prosecutor for Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt. Vazquez won Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary with more than 50% of the vote.
Vazquez, who is supported by several police groups, said Schmidt recognized the election results in a phone call Wednesday. He was a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office for more than 20 years.
“I want to thank him for his professionalism and service to our community,” Vasquez said in a post on his campaign’s Facebook page. “I look forward to working with my colleagues at the DA’s office, our community partners and the public to build a safer Multnomah County for all of us.”
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Nathan Vasquez (left) fired Mike Schmidt as Multnomah County District Attorney in Oregon. (DA Vasquez, Getty Images)
Schmidt was sworn in just days after the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota sparked calls for changes to the criminal justice system amid racial justice protests in Portland and other cities across the country. Other prosecutors who took office around the same time in liberal strongholds like San Francisco and Seattle have since faced setbacks amid public discontent over crime.
Generally, these district attorneys have supported finding alternatives to incarceration and have refrained from prosecuting low-level crimes to lower incarceration rates and address social inequities in the criminal justice system.
Critics say the policies pose crime and public safety risks.
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Portland, Oregon (right), one of the most reliably blue cities in the United States, has ousted incumbent District Attorney Mike Schmidt (left) along with former Republican Nathan Vasquez. [not pictured]. (Getty Images)
Immediately after his inauguration, demonstrations demanding racial justice erupted in Portland, with unrest on the streets nearly every night for months. Schmidt announced that protesters would not be charged unless they are arrested for intentional damage to property, theft, or use or threat of violence against others. Schmidt cited obstruction of a police officer, disorderly conduct and trespassing as examples of cases he would dismiss.
In announcing this policy, Governor Vazquez also announced Governor Schmidt’s support for a 2020 voter-approved bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs. Earlier this year, state lawmakers repealed the law and reinstated criminal penalties for possession for so-called “personal use” amid one of the nation’s largest spikes in drug overdose deaths.
Schmidt supported the move.
A person drops a mail-in ballot into a drop box in Pioneer Square during primary voting in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
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“I am committed to ending outdoor drug trafficking and drug use, helping individuals access treatment, repairing the broken relationships between the District Attorney’s Office and the community, and making victims my office’s top priority,” Vasquez said in the message.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Schmidt’s campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
