Billionaire shopping mall mogul and 2022 mayoral candidate Rick Caruso announced his support for Nathan Hochman for Los Angeles County District Attorney on Tuesday, adding perhaps the biggest name yet to a growing list of supporters of George Gascón's challenger.

“There is no more important election in California than this one,” Caruso said at a news conference outside the historic Casa Vega restaurant in Sherman Oaks. “This election is really going to change the course of this region, and I think it's going to change the course of the state.”

Hochman won his seat in the November election after defeating a historic field of 12 challengers and challenging Gascón, a progressive who has become deeply unpopular with some voters since defeating Jackie Lacey in 2020.

The movement to oust the incumbent mayor has so far capitalized on growing fears among ordinary Los Angeles residents about property crime and a sense of lawlessness.

“On election night, George Gascón received 25% of the vote, the lowest percentage of the vote ever received by a district attorney seeking reelection,” Hochman said Tuesday, referring to the March primary election.

He described Gascón's reform policies as a failed “social experiment” and said voters were tired of them.

Caruso, a longtime lawyer and one-time Republican candidate for state attorney general, must use his moderate, law-and-order platform to unite people disaffected by the incumbent — something he tried and failed to do when he faced off against Karen Bass for mayor in 2022.

“Feeling anxious is bad enough,” Caruso said at a news conference Tuesday. “In fact, Become familiar It's not safe, and people across Los Angeles County are not safe.”

The remarks were reminiscent of a familiar theme from his 2022 City Hall race.

During his campaign, Mr. Caruso portrayed Los Angeles as a dystopian Gotham plagued by crime and mayhem. The billionaire developer relentlessly touted his belief that a silent majority of liberal Los Angeles voters wanted tougher measures against crime and homelessness.

The same sentiment is far more mainstream now than it was two years ago, the tycoon said.

“The problems I've talked about continue to get worse,” he said. “It's not just a moderate problem. Everybody is hurt by this.”

Caruso also dismissed concerns that Hochman's record as a Republican, like his own, could alienate him from liberal voters. Hochman ran against California Attorney General Rob Bonta as a Republican in 2022 before becoming an independent.

“Focusing on party affiliation is a disservice to the people who are actually suffering from crime,” Caruso said. “They don't care if the district attorney is from the right or the left. They want to be safe.”

Caruso ultimately lost to Bass by nearly 10 percentage points in the most expensive mayoral race in the city's history, despite spending a record $104 million.

The race for a sitting district attorney could similarly break spending records: This spring's 12-person primary was the largest and most expensive in the history of the district attorney's office.

Hochman has raised more than $2.7 million alone in the primary, more than double the next closest competitor, and has been on an aggressive fundraising spree, crisscrossing the county since winning the right to appear on the November ballot.

“If you ask voters across this county, they will tell you that they, their family members, their close friends, their community members, their neighbors have actually been personally affected by some aspect of these crimes,” Hochman said Tuesday afternoon at an event with crime victims.

“We don't need to talk about statistics anymore. We can talk about the real stories. And those real stories are what's going to get George Gascón out of office.”