PORTLAND, Ore. — After four years of Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt leading the county's prosecution efforts, it was clear by Wednesday afternoon that voters have had enough. Schmidt conceded to challenger Nathan Vasquez, and The Oregonian called the race in Vasquez's favor.
While Vasquez's lead had narrowed since initial vote results Tuesday night, he only needed a majority to win. As of Wednesday afternoon, he'd won 54% of the vote to Schmidt's 45%.
The bloodletting this week marked a stunning reversal from where things stood four years ago.
Schmidt rode into office in 2020 with 77% of the vote after campaigning as a criminal justice reformer. That election happened just a week before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and Schmidt's predecessor abruptly stepped down as protests in Portland reached a fever pitch — leaving Schmidt to deal with the fallout as he assumed the role in August.
Now, Schmidt will soon be replaced by Vasquez, a veteran prosecutor at the Multnomah County District Attorney's office. The Story's Pat Dooris had a chance to speak with Vasquez on Wednesday morning, after a night that saw him build a healthy lead over his boss.
Even if Vasquez has de facto won the race, he's not scheduled to take office until January 1 unless Schmidt takes a page from his predecessor's book and steps down early. Schmidt's campaign said Wednesday that he intends to serve through the end of his term. But Vasquez said he has a plan for those next few months.
"I will be working very hard to both help start looking at how do I create the healthiest office possible, but also what can I do to build a strong relationship throughout the community," Vasquez said. "Even for those that didn't vote for me, I want them to be a part of this, this kind of movement forward. And so the next six to seven months will be a lot of building that collaborative efforts throughout the community with community-based organizations, with law enforcement, with business — the idea being, let's all come together and move forward."
In the meantime, Vasquez said, he will still be prosecuting cases as a senior deputy district attorney.
"I'm dedicated to my cases. It's a commitment I make to each and every victim and their family that I'm not just their DA for that case, I'm their DA for life and I will always answer their calls. I will always serve them," he said. "The murder cases I have right now still are going to be the top of my mind and I'm going to be working on those even while doing, you know, this other prep work. So, it is something that I take to heart as being dedicated to those victims and their families."
Vasquez said that voters sent a message in this election, demanding more of their public safety system. And he thinks even many of Portland's politically progressive residents want to see more consequences for law-breaking.
"What people repeatedly told me is they just felt like, as a community, we had lost our way in a lot of different areas," he said. "But in particular, when it came to a lack of accountability in the community and the open air drug use and open air drug dealing, those were kind of the repeated themes I heard out on the campaign trail and hit something that, you know, I'm dedicated to making real changes in those areas."
According to Vasquez, a crackdown on things like fentanyl dealing will take "dedicated partnership" at all levels, including patrol officers, detectives and on up to the federal U.S. attorney's office.
In the longer term, Vasquez said he plans to rebuild the DA's office — something Schmidt has said he's been doing during his tenure — and supports major changes so that local judges continue to hold some suspects in jail for longer after they are arrested.
For gun violence, Vasquez said more work needs to be done to hold felons accountable when they are caught with guns, and he intends to work with federal officers to help get more guns off the streets.
In a brief statement conceding the race on Wednesday, Schmidt pledged to participate in a smooth transition.
“It is looking as if I will not be serving another four years as Multnomah County District Attorney," Schmidt said. "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.”
KGW reached out to Schmidt's campaign for an interview but it had not been scheduled as of publishing.