Portland DA Mike Schmidt loses election to Nathan Vasquez after his Soros-backed soft-on-crime policies were blamed for ruining city

Portland's progressive District Attorney Mike Schmidt has conceded victory to a tough-on-crime challenger after his policies were blamed for ruining the city.

Schmidt, who is the prosecutor for Multnomah County, which covers the Oregon city, conceded the race to Nathan Vasquez shortly after 7pm ET Wednesday. 

Voter counts are ongoing, but Vasquez has secured around 54 percent of votes, with Schmidt trailing well behind on 45 percent.  

The Soros-backed progressive was elected with 77 percent of the vote in 2020 after touting a host of 'equity'-focused policies, in a county that has not voted for a Republican president since 1960.

Vasquez also works as a prosecutor for Multnomah County, but decided to stand against his boss after accusing him of ruining the city. 

Portland DA Mike Schmidt promised 'equity focused' policies after his 2020 election

Challenger Nathan Vasquez has unseated him after promising a tough on crime approach

Schmidt released the following statement: 'It is looking as if I will not be serving another four years as Multnomah County District Attorney. 

'I have called Nathan Vasquez to congratulate him on his victory. While we do not always see eye to eye, I am committed to a smooth transition. 

'Thank you to this amazing community for the support they have shown for this campaign. And thank you for the opportunity to serve these past four years. It is an honor I will cherish for a lifetime.'

Schmidt's loss means he has now become of the highest profile casualties of a backlash to liberal DA's across the country after a vicious election battle against one of his own prosecutors.

'He set the bar incredibly low for me, and when I come into office, it will literally be me trying not to trip over that bar,' Vasquez said.

Schmidt was elected May 2020 just before the death of George Floyd and the riots that pulverized cities across the country.

He vowed not to prosecute rioters unless there was evidence of 'deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of force, and of 550 cases referred by police just 47 went to trial.

Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of all hard drugs in 2020 and Schmidt raced to implement the measure several months before it took effect statewide.

But fatal opioid overdoses surged from 280 in 2019, to 628 in just the first six months of last year as nearly 800 homeless encampments and open-air drug markets sprang up in the city center.

More than 2,600 businesses had fled the city center by September 2022 as shoppers avoided downtown areas and retail theft began to spiral.

The city council voted to slash $15 million from the police budget in 2020 in response to the defund the police movement.

But homicides jumped from 57 to a record 96 in Schmidt's first two years in office.

'What I hear when I'm knocking on doors, is 'Hey, I consider myself very liberal but this is out of step — we're not getting served well',' Vasquez told Politico.

Drugs deaths in Portland surged from 280 in 2019, to 628 in just the first six months of last year

Homelessness jumped by  65 percent to more than 6,300 from 2015 to 2023

Schmidt vowed not to prosecute rioters unless there was evidence of 'deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of force, and of 550 cases referred by police just 47 went to trial

'People definitely want public safety. It doesn't mean people are wholly abandoning the idea of criminal justice reform. They just want it delivered in a pragmatic, practical way.

'It's pretty clear I'm the only candidate in this race who is consistently in the office prosecuting serious cases, standing up for victims, and providing the present, dedicated leadership that my fellow prosecutors need day in and day out.'

Vasquez said he was 'optimistic and very hopeful' as the results started to come in with his rival losing ground across the city to the shock of some observers.

'There's this dynamic that's playing out in Portland where I think probably the most vocal, most politically active, where a lot of opinion leaders live isn't reflective of where the overall sort of voters in the community are in terms of public safety and crime, drug use, homelessness,' John Horvick of polling firm DHM Research told Oregon Live.

Politics professor Todd Lochner said the same pattern was likely to play out across the country.

'Beginning in about 2020, you see this rise of the progressive prosecutor, but some of those candidates were essentially replaced or recalled,' he told the Free Press.

Several big-name employers, including Umpqua Bank, have closed amid the mass exodus, carried out by owners who have taken issue with the rising crime levels - and the city's failure to address it

'I think what's going on now in the DA's race has something to do with this backlash to what is perceived, correctly or incorrectly, as prosecutors who are not as zealous in convicting people as some might prefer.

'Generally speaking, tough on crime sells well.

'Most voters routinely say that crime is important to them. We know that homelessness is a very important issue.

'And I would expect that if people perceive those problems are not materially getting better, then they would vote for the challenger under the premise that, well, let's just let someone else give it a try.'