Longtime Multnomah County prosecutor Nathan Vasquez has a sizable lead in his attempt to unseat his boss, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
With potentially thousands of votes yet to be tallied, Vasquez led with 56% of the vote as of 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
Speaking to supporters after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, Vasquez said once the votes were counted, he was confident he would be elected district attorney. ”I am committed to ending the open-air drug use – to ending the open air drug dealing that we have suffered from as a community,” Vasquez said to a cheering crowd of supporters. “I am also committed to restoring that idea that it is OK to hold people accountable and do it in a compassionate manner.”
Vasquez is a senior deputy district attorney in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, where he has worked since 2001. His bid to replace Schmidt has centered on his experience in the courtroom and leaned toward more traditional “tough on crime” policies than his opponent.
While Schmidt’s campaign has focused on continuing progressive reforms to the criminal justice system, Vasquez has pledged to go further than his boss to hold people accountable for lower-level crimes and improve the office’s collaboration with law enforcement.