Soros DA Funding: Prosecutors, Recalls, and Backlash

Over the past decade, billionaire George Soros has spent more than $50 million to elect reform-minded prosecutors in cities and counties across the country, making him the single largest outside funder of district attorney races in American history.¹ The Soros-funded district attorneys who won those races now oversee jurisdictions representing tens of millions of people, though a growing number have been recalled, defeated at the polls, suspended, or pushed out of office since 2022.

How the Money Moves

Soros rarely writes checks directly to candidates. The money flows through a network of state-level super PACs and a national 527 group, most operating under some variation of the name “Safety and Justice.”² By August 2016, he had channeled more than $3 million into seven DA campaigns across six states. Between 2015 and 2019, that figure grew to more than $17 million.³ A 2022 Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund report put total direct campaign spending above $40 million for the preceding decade,⁴ and the same group’s January 2024 estimate reached $50 million or more.¹

Attorney Whitney Tymas, a Washington, D.C.-based political consultant and former prosecutor, has overseen several of the key vehicles, including the Justice and Safety PAC and state equivalents such as the Oregon Law & Justice PAC.⁵ In California the money moved through the California Justice & Public Safety Political Action Committee.⁶ Progressive groups such as Color of Change helped identify races worth entering.²

The strategy targeted contests that had historically been sleepy, often uncontested affairs where a well-funded challenger could outspend an incumbent on media and win. In the largest jurisdictions the outlays ran into the millions. In smaller ones, $20,000 to $100,000 was sometimes enough to swing a race.⁷

The Best-Known Prosecutors

A handful of names have come to define the Soros-funded DA phenomenon.

Larry Krasner, Philadelphia

Soros provided roughly $1.7 million for Krasner’s first campaign. He won the 2017 Democratic primary with 38 percent of the vote on just 17 percent turnout, effectively clinching the office in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.⁷ Krasner won reelection and remained in office through at least 2025, though the Pennsylvania House impeached him in 2022 over his exercise of prosecutorial discretion.⁸

Kim Foxx, Cook County, Illinois

Soros contributed $300,000 to Foxx’s first campaign in 2016 and $2 million for her reelection.³ She later announced she would not seek reelection.⁷

George Gascón, Los Angeles

Soros funneled more than $2.5 million into a California PAC supporting Gascón’s successful 2020 campaign.³ A separate estimate put total campaign funding at $4.7 million.⁹ Gascón survived a recall effort but lost his November 2024 reelection bid to Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor who took roughly 60 percent of the vote.¹⁰

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan

Soros did not donate directly to Bragg’s campaign, and a spokesperson said the two had never met.¹¹ But on May 14, 2021, Soros gave $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, which had endorsed Bragg six days earlier and pledged $1 million to his campaign. Jonathan Soros and his wife Jennifer Allan Soros each contributed $10,000 directly to Bragg.¹²

Chesa Boudin, San Francisco

Elected in 2019, Boudin was recalled in June 2022 after less than a full term.⁷

The LELDF’s tracker identified roughly 75 Soros-affiliated prosecutors as of mid-2022, a figure that fell to about 70 active prosecutors by early 2023. Those jurisdictions collectively represent more than 70 million people.¹³

Who Counts as “Soros-Funded”

The label is used loosely in political debate, and the Bragg example shows why that matters: direct contribution, intermediary-PAC support, and family giving are different things. The most systematic definition comes from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. A prosecutor qualifies, in LELDF’s methodology, if they meet at least two of three criteria: receiving campaign support from Soros-funded or affiliated groups; participating in programming sponsored by those groups; or signing three or more public statements or amicus briefs coordinated by Soros-funded organizations such as Fair and Just Prosecution.⁴

Fair and Just Prosecution, a project of the Tides Center, states on its website that it does not receive funding from Soros or his organizations and that claims of his control are “categorically false.”¹⁴ LELDF classifies it as Soros-funded, pointing to the Tides Center having received over $30 million from Soros’s Open Society Foundations between 2016 and 2020.⁴ Critics of the label argue it is applied as a political weapon, particularly against Black prosecutors. The LELDF counters that the network of funding, programming, and coordinated advocacy amounts to a coherent strategy regardless of whether any single prosecutor received a direct check.

Recalls, Defeats, and Removals

By 2023 more than a dozen prosecutors identified as Soros-backed had left office. LELDF reported that 12 departed within a single year through recalls, election losses, suspensions, or resignations.¹³ The departures accelerated through 2024.

Chesa Boudin (San Francisco): recalled June 2022.⁷
Kimberly Gardner (St. Louis): resigned.⁷
Marilyn Mosby (Baltimore): lost her Democratic primary.⁷
Andrew Warren (Tampa): suspended by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022. A federal court found the suspension violated the Florida Constitution and the First Amendment but held that it lacked authority to reinstate him.⁸
Monique Worrell (Orlando): suspended by DeSantis in August 2023, who cited “leniency toward crime.” She won the seat back in November 2024 with nearly 58 percent of the vote and was sworn in again in January 2025.¹⁵
Mike Schmidt (Portland): defeated in the May 2024 primary by Nathan Vasquez, a career prosecutor in the same office, who won about 54 percent on a public-safety platform.¹⁶¹⁷
George Gascón (Los Angeles): lost reelection November 2024 by roughly 20 points.¹⁰
Pamela Price (Alameda County): recalled November 2024 with 63 percent supporting removal.¹⁸

Not every Soros-backed prosecutor has been removed. Alvin Bragg remains in office in Manhattan, Larry Krasner remains in Philadelphia, and Monique Worrell successfully reclaimed her seat after being suspended.

The Crime Argument

The central dispute is whether these prosecutors’ policies drove the homicide spikes that hit many American cities starting around 2020. A Heritage Foundation report submitted to the Congressional record argued that of the 30 U.S. cities with the highest homicide rates, at least 14 were led by Soros-backed or “Soros-inspired” prosecutors, and that those 14 jurisdictions accounted for 68 percent of all homicides among the top 30 cities as of mid-2022. The report attributed rising crime to a combination of progressive prosecution, the “defund the police” movement, and demoralization of officers.¹⁹

Defenders counter that the 2020-2021 homicide surge was a nationwide phenomenon driven by the pandemic, economic disruption, and social upheaval rather than any individual DA’s policies. Philadelphia illustrates the complication. Under Krasner, the city saw a homicide surge that peaked in the early 2020s and then reversed sharply. The city recorded 269 homicides in 2024, down roughly 34 percent from 410 the year before, which Krasner’s office called the largest annual improvement in the city’s recorded criminological history. The 2024 total was the fourth-lowest in 55 years, and by early 2025 violent crime was down another 17 percent year-over-year.²⁰ Krasner’s office also reported an 88 percent trial-ready conviction rate for shooting homicides and a county jail population of about 3,100, down from over 11,000 in earlier years.²¹

The Political and Legal Response

Republican lawmakers have made Soros-funded prosecutors a recurring focus of congressional oversight. The House Judiciary Committee held field hearings in cities with progressive prosecutors beginning in New York City in April 2023, where members cited Heritage Foundation research and entered it into the record.²² A May 2024 hearing in Philadelphia explicitly targeted Krasner’s policies.²³

Several state legislatures have moved to give governors or state bodies more power over local prosecutors. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 332 in March 2024, reactivating the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission with authority to investigate and remove local prosecutors over charging decisions or public statements about their prosecutorial philosophy. A removed DA would be barred from serving for 10 years. A bipartisan group of Georgia district attorneys sued in April 2024.²⁴ Texas has enacted similar legislation.⁸

The conflict escalated after Donald Trump returned to the presidency. In September 2025, a senior Justice Department official directed more than six U.S. attorney’s offices to draft plans to investigate the Open Society Foundations, Soros’s flagship philanthropic organization. According to the New York Times, a memo listed potential charges ranging from arson to material support of terrorism. Trump had publicly called for Soros to be “thrown in jail.”²⁵ As of mid-2026 no charges have been filed, and a DOJ spokesperson told reporters the department “does not comment on investigations.”²⁶ Laleh Ispahani, OSF’s managing director for the U.S., said: “We are continuing our work unabated. We will not be intimidated into silence.” In May 2026, OSF announced a $300 million pledge for U.S. democratic rights and economic security initiatives, with $20 million committed for the current year.²⁷

What Comes Next

George Soros transferred leadership of the Open Society Foundations to his son Alexander Soros, who became chair in June 2023. The board approved a new operating model focused on “strategic opportunism,” balancing longer-term approaches with tactical responses to emerging threats. Stated priorities include democracy, human rights, climate justice, and addressing inequity.²⁸ Alexander Soros has not made specific public statements about the DA funding strategy, and whether the organization will keep investing in prosecutor races at the same level is unclear.

1
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. Exposed: Soros Prosecutors Map
2
Politico. George Soros’s Quiet Overhaul of the U.S. Justice System
3
New York Post. How George Soros Funded Progressive DAs Behind US Crime Surge
4
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. Justice for Sale
5
Hillsboro News Times. Soros-Tied Group Starts Up PAC in Oregon
6
Stanford Law School. Big Money: Soros Contributions Change Prosecutor Campaigns
7
U.S. Congress. Guest Commentary: George Soros’ Bad Bet on Progressive Prosecutors
8
Brennan Center for Justice. Governor DeSantis vs. Prosecutorial Discretion
9
Senate Republican Leader. Soros Prosecutors Have Overseen Massive Crime Waves in Their Communities
10
CalMatters. George Gascon, Pamela Price Lose in California DA Races
11
New York Times. What Is the Connection Between George Soros and Alvin Bragg
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Washington Examiner. George Soros Denies Boosting Alvin Bragg Despite $1 Million Donation to Left-Wing PAC
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KATV. 12 Soros-Backed Prosecutors Left Office in the Last Year, Nonprofit Says
14
Fair and Just Prosecution. Frequently Asked Questions
15
Central Florida Public Media. Ousted Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell Back in Office
16
CNN. Portland District Attorney Race
17
KPTV. Vasquez Beats Schmidt to Become Next DA of Multnomah County
18
Alameda County. Recall Election Results
19
U.S. Congress. The Blue City Murder Problem
20
NBC Philadelphia. Philly Decrease in Violent Crime 2024
21
Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. DATA Dashboard
22
Heritage Foundation. Heritage Research on Rogue Prosecutors Cited by GOP House Members at NYC Crime Hearing
23
U.S. House Judiciary Committee. Victims of Violent Crime in Philadelphia
24
DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorneys Challenge Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission
25
New York Times. Justice Department Directed Investigation of Soros Foundation
26
U.S. News & World Report. George Soros Foundations Pledge $300M for US Democracy Amid Attacks on Nonprofits
27
Fortune. George Soros Foundation Pledges $300 Million Toward Democratic Rights
28
Open Society Foundations. Message From the Board of Directors