Some view the D.A. race in L.A. as a referendum on the state of public safety in the nation’s most populous county.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has lost his reelection battle against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, the Associated Press projects.

Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, calls himself a “hard middle” candidate who would reject both mass incarceration and the “public safety failure” of Gascón’s tenure the past four years. He advanced out of a primary field of 11 challengers and spent most of the campaign attacking Gascón policies that he says led to increased crime and a lack of consequences for juvenile offenders.