L.A. city attorney likely to be first incumbent ousted in primary in nearly 100 years

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The last time Angelenos sacked an incumbent city attorney in the primaries, almost 30% of them were unemployed.That was May 2, 1933, the nadir of the Great Depression, when sprawling encampments blanketed downtown, King Kong ruled movie theaters and violent crime reached a fever pitch not seen again for almost half a century.Incumbent City Atty.

Hydee Feldstein Soto’s near-certain defeat on Tuesday may have little in common with Erwin P.Werner’s primary loss 93 years ago, but themes of Depression-era Los Angeles echo through the contest.

Marissa Roy, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice who leads the race with ballots still being counted, wooed voters with shoe-leather and social media savvy, promising to use the office to fight for wage workers and tenants.But it was the city’s powerful unions and its increasingly democratic socialist bloc that propelled her to the top spot, mirroring the coalition that drove California’s sharp left turn in the early 1930s.

Meanwhile, county prosecutor John McKinney tapped into voter frustration with homeless encampments, a blighted downtown and general distrust of City Hall to pull off a last-minute heist of the second runoff spot.McKinney only started campaigning in earnest five weeks ago, but managed to win votes with a tough-on-crime campaign — even as some categories of city crime have dipped to historic lows.

As of Thursday morning, Roy had nearly double the number of votes of Feldstein Soto.McKinney led the incumbent by 13 percentage points for the second runoff slot.

The race has not yet been called, but Feldstein Soto issued a statement effectively conceding the race Wednesday morning.She acknowledged that “the voters had spoken” and referenced “her successor’s administration.”Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The ouster of Feldstein Soto would ...