Dems like Adam Gray “face growing anger over soft approach to crime”
Extreme Democrats signed on to defunding the police, decriminalizing crime and coddling criminals.
Now extreme Democrats in California are facing “growing anger” and “struggling to ‘shake’ the perception they are ‘soft on crime,’” Newsweek reported.
“California voters are fed up with soft-on-crime politicians like Adam Gray and their extreme agenda. Gray has failed families in the Central Valley on crime.” – NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen
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California Progressives Face Growing Anger Over Soft Approach to Crime
Newsweek
James Bickerton
California has experienced a sharp increase in violent and property crime over the past few years, accordingly to state figures, sparking a growing backlash against the state’s governing Democratic Party.
One leading political scientist told Newsweek the situation in California means Democrats are struggling to “shake” the perception they are “soft on crime,” which is likely to be a Republican focus during the 2024 presidential election.
The murder of George Floyd by a police officer in May 2020 sparked a campaign to “Defund the Police” which gained the support of many progressives. However, subsequent crime surges in major U.S. cities have ignited recoil, like Oakland’s local Police Officers’ Association and NAACP branch both calling for tougher law enforcement.
According to California’s 2022 annual crime report published last month, violent crime in the golden state was 6.1 percent higher than the 2021 figure, whilst property crime had increased by 6.2 percent.
This continues a broader trend that saw the number of reported violent crimes in California surge from 173,864 in 2020 to 193,019 in 2022, whilst property crimes rose from 851,171 to 902,977 during the same time period.
California is dominated by the Democrats with the party dominating both chambers of the state legislature, along with the governor’s office via Gavin Newsom. Newsweek has contacted the California Democratic Party for comment via email.
Speaking to Newsweek Thomas Gift, who runs the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, said the GOP is likely to focus attention on crime during the 2024 presidential election.
He commented: “The ‘soft on crime’ charge levied at Democrats is a difficult accusation for Biden’s party to shake. In large part, it reflects a continuation of Trump’s ‘law and order’ message from 2020 that’s only grown more pronounced in progressive hotbeds like San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago. As even left-leaning groups come to grips with how concerns about public safety are driving voters away from the Democratic Party, we can expect Republicans to again make the issue front and center in the 2024 general election.”
According to figures provided to Newsweek by the Oakland Police Department crime in the Californian city increased by 26 percent in the year to July 30, with particularly dramatic rises in knifepoint robberies and vehicle thefts.
Speaking to Newsweek Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, said: “The public safety situation in Oakland, fueled by rising crime and a revolving door justice system, is exacerbated by too few cops struggling to keep up with the surge in criminal activity and increased calls for help from our residents.”
The Oakland brand of the NAACP, America’s oldest civil rights organization, has urged authorities in the city to “declare a state of emergency” over crime, which it blamed on “failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police…and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric.”