Nathan Vasquez, a centrist candidate for district attorney in Oregon’s Multnomah county, which includes Portland, has defeated the progressive prosecutor who had been in office since 2006. Vasquez ran a campaign where he promised to be tough against crime.

Vasquez, a deputy of Mike Schmidt for the District Attorney’s office, was endorsed and supported by several police organizations. He won the nonpartisan primary election on Tuesday after results showed he received more than 50%. Vasquez, and Schmidt were the two only candidates. There was also a write-in option.

Vasquez claimed that Schmidt had conceded the election during their conversation on Wednesday afternoon. He thanked Schmidt on his Facebook page for his service, and expressed his gratitude for the support from voters.

Vasquez’s victory comes as progressive DAs, candidates and liberal bastions from San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle have suffered setbacks due to frustrations about public safety and homelessness.

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Vasquez wrote in his Wednesday post that “the voters have made clear that they’re ready to take our country in a safer and new direction.”

He added, “I am dedicated to ending open-air drug dealing and drug abuse while helping individuals find treatment. I also want to repair the damaged relationships between the DA’s office and the local community and ensure that victims are my top priority.”

Schmidt was elected as Portland and the country were gripped by social justice protests in 2020. Schmidt campaigned for reforming the criminal system. He launched initiatives in office to review wrongful prison sentences, and he focused prosecutions more on violent crimes than on low-level offenses.

During his campaign, Vasquez criticized some of Schmidt’s policies. For example, his decision to not prosecute protesters who were arrested during the demonstrations of 2020 for low-level and non-violent crimes, as well as his support of Measure 110 – a ballot initiative approved by voters in the year 2020 which decriminalized small amounts of drug possession.

In the face of one of the largest spikes in fatal overdoses, the state legislature rolled back the law that was the first to be passed in the country and reinstated criminal penalties for possession for “personal use”. Schmidt backed reinstating penalties.

Vasquez is a district attorney who has worked in that office for more than 20 years.

Schmidt was the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission’s director before he became the governor. This state agency is responsible for improving the legitimacy and efficiency of the criminal justice systems. Schmidt was a deputy district prosecutor for Multnomah county before that.