Democrats’ position on crime tested in California recall

Democrats will face a major test regarding their position on crime in Tuesday’s district attorney recall election in San Francisco. 

The city’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a recall fueled by $7 million from opponents who argue he’s not taking a tough enough stance on crime in the city. 

Polls suggest Boudin could be in trouble. A San Francisco Examiner poll conducted by Change Research released last week found that 56 percent of respondents said they were in favor of recalling Boudin. Another survey from Public Policy Polling released earlier last month found that 48 percent of the city’s voters plan to vote “yes” on recalling Boudin, while 38 percent said they planned to vote “no.” Another 14 percent said they were undecided. 

Assistant District Attorney Rachel Marshall, Boudin’s communications director, defended her boss in an op-ed last month. 

“Only progressive prosecutors are made to answer for crime rates; I have yet to learn of a traditional prosecutor attacked for crime increases,” she wrote. “Similarly, in cities with progressive prosecutors, police are rarely impugned for crime increases, even when they solve fewer crimes.” 

Boudin’s allies say this is an effort fueled by Republicans and note that while homicides in San Francisco have risen amid the pandemic, the per capita rate is lower than in some other major cities. 

Still, the recall results could be a warning to Democrats as they debate how to approach the issue amid a spike in homicides and gun violence across the country. 

“This idea that Democrats are anti-police or anti-doing everything they can to protect the citizens in their community is just a big bag of meatloaf,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright told The Hill. “However, we seem to not understand that we have to define our message with our own messengers instead of letting the other side, the opposition party define us with their messengers.” 

Republicans have hammered Democrats at the local, state and national level, portraying the candidates as weak on the issue. On Monday, the State Government Leadership Foundation, which is the policy arm of the Republican State Leadership Committee, rolled out an ad accusing liberals of making communities less safe and vilifying law enforcement. The spot, which is titled “Tale of Two Americas,” is a part of a six-figure national ad campaign. 

“Supporting America’s law enforcement shouldn’t be controversial, but Democrats have been so radicalized by the liberal mob that they are selling out the safety of their communities to score cheap political points with their base,” the group’s president, Dee Duncan, said in a statement. 

Republicans point to polling that shows Americans feeling increasingly less safe. A Gallup poll released in April found that 53 percent of respondents said they worry “a great deal” about crime and violence, while only 27 percent said they worry “a fair amount.” Even bleaker for Democrats, an April ABC News-Washington Post survey found that 47 percent of Americans said they trusted Republicans more to handle crime, while 35 percent said the same about Democrats. 

And in heavily liberal San Francisco, 66 percent of voters said they feel less safe today than they did 10 years ago, according to the Change Research survey. 

“They’ve finally reached the limit of what their progressive base even is willing to accept with how liberal they are on crime policies,” one national GOP strategist told The Hill. 

Republicans also point to the mayoral race in Los Angeles, where billionaire Rick Caruso, who was part of the GOP until earlier this year, is vowing to tackle the city’s homelessness and violent crime problems. Polls show a close race emerging in the nonpartisan “jungle” primary, which will result in a November runoff election if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

“Democrats kept taking it further and further with their anti-police rhetoric because it was popular with their base, but now that those policies are being put into action, you’re seeing a huge backlash against them,” the Republican strategist said. 

Republicans specifically point to progressive members of Congress, like Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who has repeatedly called for “defunding” the police and further investing in communities. 

But Democrats push back on this notion, arguing that the majority of politicians in the party don’t support measures like reducing police budgets and would rather ensure that law enforcement is supported. 

“I think, for the most part, the majority of Democrats both in the House and the Senate, and for that matter around the country, have been crystal clear about how we want to keep our communities and our citizens safe,” Seawright said. 

Democrats also point to the country’s top Democrat, President Biden, and his calls to bolster police funding. Last month, Biden called on states and cities to use federal dollars to invest in police, mental health programs and crisis responders. 

And in the wake of a slew of deadly mass shootings that have rocked the country, Democrats are using gun control as a means of tackling violent crime. Democrats have also pointed to recent shootings and violent crimes in GOP-controlled areas as well. 

“If the people who are arguing that the recent rise in crime, which is really a recent rise in gun violence, is the fault of some of these reforms, why are those things happening in these other places?” said Michael Lawlor, a member of New Haven, Conn.’s Board of Police Commissioners and former Democratic member of the state’s House of Representatives. 

The country’s recent gun violence appears to know no political bounds either. Democratic-controlled Buffalo, N.Y., and Republican-controlled Uvalde, Texas, both experienced horrific mass shootings last month. At least 12 people were killed last weekend alone in the U.S. as a result of mass shootings, while at least 38 were injured in cities including Philadelphia and Chattanooga, Tenn. 

“What is up is gun violence,” Lawlor said. “If you want to focus on the category of crime that is actually up, then let’s focus on that.” 

Still, Republicans say momentum is on their side with the crime issue, given that polling shows Americans blaming the party in power.

“I do think the issue of crime in general puts Democrats in a tough spot because they have a lot of woke, white liberals in their party who are calling a lot of the shots who will be very upset if they try to pivot to a tough on crime message,” the Republican strategist said. 

Democrats, on the other hand, say the makeup of their party is not that simple. 

“One or two people do not speak for the majority of this party, and a few voices in the choir does not make up the entire choir,” Seawright said.