Thursday night’s Los Angeles County District Attorney debate, while ostensibly an opportunity for candidates to present their platform, quickly became a competition to land the sharpest jab at current D.A. George Gascón .

Nine of the 11 challengers running for office attended the debate and held no punches while expressing their dissatisfaction with the incumbent, whose progressive criminal justice reform policies have made him a polarizing figure in L.A. County politics.

The incumbent faced attacks on everything from his leadership style, to his refusal to prosecute certain misdemeanors, his elimination of cash bail for many crimes, his defense of Prop. 47 and his relationship with law enforcement.

Gascón vigorously defended himself against the many attacks lobbed his way over the course of Thursday evening’s debate hosted by Los Angeles magazine. He pointed to decreases in incarceration and violent crime rates, while touting the benefits of his “more humane” approach to prosecution.

Although many of the candidates blamed Gascón for a “crime wave”, the crime statistics paint a more complicated story.

Violent crime spiked in Los Angeles during the pandemic, as it did across the nation, but has since decreased significantly.

In the city of L.A., rape and homicide were both down about 18% last year compared to 2021, Gascon’s first full year in office.

Property crime in the city, however, is up. Reports of theft dramatically rose about 40% last year compared to 2021 and burglaries spiked by about 15%.

Eight of the debate attendees are running on tougher-on-crime platforms compared to Gascón’s. They are Jonathan Hatami, Nathan Hochman, David Milton, John McKinney, Craig Mitchell, Maria Ramirez, Eric Siddall and Debra Archuleta. Jeff Chemerinsky was the sole progressive challenger in attendance, but nevertheless a sharp critic of Gascón. Candidates Llyod Masson and Dan Kapelovitz did not attend the debate.

The primary election is on March 5 and unless one candidate clinches a majority of the votes — an unlikely outcome — the race will proceed to a November runoff between the top two vote-getters.

Here is where the candidates stood on the race’s hottest issues:

Gascón’s criminal justice reforms

On his first day in office in December 2020, Gascón enacted a series of executive directives aimed at reforming the county’s approach to criminal justice.

He ended the use of the death penalty, stopped the practice of trying juveniles as adults, eliminated many sentencing enhancements and removed cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.

He also halted the prosecution of many misdemeanors including trespassing, disturbing the peace, driving with no license, making criminal threats, drug possession, drinking in public, and resisting arrest among others.

Eight of the nine challengers in attendance said they would cancel all of these executive directives.

Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, said Gascon’s policies were responsible for “heralding in the golden age of criminals.”

Deputy District Attorney John McKinney said he would repeal the directives because he believes in the concept of “proportional justice,” meaning that every case and person should be treated uniquely.

“Much of what he (Gascón) imposed upon us on that day were a set of one size fits all blanket policies that showed no empathy for victims and had no real plan to deal with the important nuances that are involved in criminal behavior,” said McKinney.

Jeff Chemerinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney, said he would cancel all of the directives except for the elimination of the death penalty.

Gascón, for his part, defended the directives, which he claims have led to a more equitable prosecutorial system without compromising public safety.

“We have seen crime coming down not only in our community, but we’re seeing crime going down nationwide, at the same time that we have continued with the reform efforts,” he said. “We’re showing that not only we cannot go back to the way that we did business, but actually the fact is our reforms are good for public safety.”

Leadership and relationship with law enforcement

Several of the challengers come from within the District Attorney’s Office and have long been outspoken critics of Gascón. During the debate they wasted no time in lambasting his leadership style.

Maria Ramirez, a deputy district attorney, has sued Gascón for allegedly demoting her after she pushed back on his progressive agenda.

“He came into an office that he was elected to lead and ignored his staff, ignored our opinions,” she said. “He refused to look at us, because he did not want us to get in the way of his political agenda.”

Jonathan Hatami, who is also a deputy district attorney, said Gascón hasn’t once talked to him during his three years in office.

David Milton, a retired superior court judge and the sole Republican candidate, also criticized Gascón’s relationship with his staff.

“My management style is different,” Milton said. “I believe in giving trained professionals almost complete autonomy and that’s what I intend to do as the new district attorney.”

Eric Siddall, a deputy district attorney, pointed blame at Gascón’s management style for the high number of vacancies in the D.A.’s office.

“The District Attorney’s Office right now is an institution in crisis. We are only operating at 75% capacity,” Siddall said. “We need to rebuild the D.A.’s Office, if we’re actually going to do the mission of prosecuting people and keeping people safe.”

Several of the candidates also criticized Gascón for selecting as his chief of staff Tiffiny Blacknell, an outspoken critic of the LAPD who has described police as “barbarians.”

“If people in Los Angeles are going to feel safe, the district attorney needs to figure out how to work with law enforcement, and when you appoint as your chief of staff someone who is alienating law enforcement that fundamental constructive relationship is broken,” said Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell.

Gascón defended his promotion of Blacknell, who he said has shown “nothing but loyalty to the community and the safety of the community” over the past three years.

Jeff Chemerinsky also chided Gascón’s relationship with law enforcement and said that restoring a sense of partnership with officers would be his “number one priority” as district attorney.

Property crime and Proposition 47

Property crime, which is up in L.A. County, was also a controversial topic in Thursday’s debate, with much of the conversation converging on Proposition 47, a ballot measure that Gascón helped author.