District Attorney Jackie Lacey has conceded Friday morning, making George Gascón the new D.A. for Los Angeles County.

Gascón, the former San Francisco District Attorney, is leading the election results by a seven-point margin as of Friday morning, about 53.72 percent to 46.28 percent margin, a difference of just over 229,000 votes.

In a speech Friday holding back tears, Lacey thanked her family for the sacrifices they have made during the eight years in office.

“To my mom, who constantly asked me, ‘are you OK?’ and who constantly reminded me during this contentious fight, that no matter what happened, I made history,” she said.

Lacey was the first woman and first African-American to hold the office of L.A. County District Attorney.

The D.A. also acknowledged county staff who worked to seek justice for survivors of abuse and human trafficking.

She promised to work with her successor to ensure there is an “orderly transition of leadership” in the District Attorney’s office.

Lacey joined the D.A.’s office in 1986 as a deputy district attorney and steadily climbed the ranks to eventually become Chief Deputy District Attorney in 2011. Shortly thereafter she was elected to become the Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2012.

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Gascón’s career took a different path to practicing law, he worked in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as a patrol officer from 1978 to 1981, then took a brief hiatus to work in business management, but continued to serve as a reservist until he rejoined the force full time in 1987.

He then served two stints as a chief of police, first for the Mesa Police Department in Arizona from 2006 to 2009 then for the San Francisco Police Department from 2009 to 2011, at which point he was appointed by then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to become San Francisco District Attorney, where he served until October 2019.

Gascón identifies himself as a “leader of the criminal justice reform movement,” on his campaign website, which aligns with the rhetoric many espoused during the protests that swept across the nation following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In the course of that movement, Lacey became the target of Black Lives Matter protests outside of the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice, which houses the DA’s office, and was further embroiled in controversy when her husband David Lacey pulled a gun on protesters that had shown up at her house.

After the incident, Lacey offered apologies to the protestors on her husband’s behalf.

Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles cites Lacey’s failure to prosecute sheriff’s deputies and LAPD officers involved in shooting civilians as the main cause of their protest, however, Lacey has pushed back on this attack, indicating her hands were often tied by the letter of the law.

The controversy has caused some shifting of the political tides, as on Sunday Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he had withdrawn his endorsement of Lacey and would instead endorse Gascón.

Gascón faced-off against Lacey in the March primary which triggered a runoff in November with Lacey receiving just shy of the 50 percent needed.

The new district attorney Gascón is set to take office on Dec. 3.

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