Riverside County DA gets challenger to his 2022 re-election bid

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin on Monday got a challenger to his re-election bid next year.

Criminal defense and appellate attorney Lara Gressley, who ran against Hestrin in 2018, said she would do so again.

"In 2018, I stood for change," Gressley, a partner at Bartell, Hensel & Gressley, said in an email. "That remains. I am committed to eliminating the toxic 'win-at-all-costs' mentality that Mike Hestrin has brought to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office."

"As district attorney, I will restore the criminal justice system to what it is supposed to be - justice first. Putting justice first means we will take the politics out of the DA's office, and ensure that everyone in Riverside County is equally served by the law," she added.

Hestrin, who spent 20 years as a prosecutor in Riverside County before being elected DA in 2014, was reelected in 2018 with more than 60% of the vote. He said in response to Gressley's announcement Monday that he is proud of his record.

"In a time of increasing crime and economic uncertainty, I'm confident our track record and approach will continue to make good common sense to Riverside County families," he said in a statement provided by campaign spokesperson Tobin Holmes. "One might expect my opponent to make grand claims about what we're doing or not doing in this office.

"I stand by our good work and look forward to speaking to the voters about the best path ahead," he continued. "We've accomplished a great deal with a common sense approach to criminal justice but we know there is much more to be done in the years ahead to continue to seek justice for the people of Riverside County."

Hestrin is not the only DA facing a challenger next summer. A majority of the state's 58 counties must stand for reelection in 2022 including Orange County's Todd Spitzer, who will face challenger Pete Hardin, a former prosecutor and judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Santa Clara County's Jeffrey F. Rosen, who will face deputy public defender Sajid A. Khan.

Some DAs already announced they would not stand for reelection including Nancy O'Malley of Alameda County; Jill Ravitch of Sonoma County; Cliff Newell of Nevada County; and Anne Marie Schubert of Sacramento County, who is running for attorney general against Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Although the deadline to run for DA won't expire until early next year, some candidates have announced campaigns to fill the vacancies.

In Alameda County, civil rights attorney Pamela Price and former prosecutor Jimmie Wilson have announced their candidacies to replace O'Malley.

Ravitch has backed Chief Deputy District Attorney Carla Rodriguez as her successor in Sonoma County. In Sacramento, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho and former Deputy District Attorney Alan Mathews are running to replace Schubert.

Before stepping down in July during his fourth term as Nevada County's chief prosecutor, Newell endorsed Assistant District Attorney Christopher J. Walsh as his interim replacement to be appointed by the county supervisors. The board took applications for an interim district attorney and ultimately appointed Jesse Wilson, a former prosecutor from El Dorado.

Wilson is the only current candidate for Nevada County DA. Walsh confirmed Monday that he is not planning to run for DA.