George Soros is spending millions on local prosecutor elections

George Soros, the billionaire financier, is ponying up serious cash to reform the US criminal-justice system.

 

Soros has pumped over $3 million into seven local district-attorney campaigns in six states in the past year, reports Politico.

 

He is pushing the money into local elections in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas through a network of state-level super PACs and a national “527” unlimited-money group, according to Politico.

 

The money has benefited African-American and Hispanic candidates who ran on progressive platforms, like reducing racial disparities in sentencing and directing drug offenders to diversion programs instead of trial.

 

Electing reform-minded prosecutors is a major goal of progressive figures such as Soros. Prosecutors have “tremendous power” in how the law is interpreted, specifically when deciding what kind of sentences the state will pursue, John Pfaff, a professor of criminal law at Fordham University, told The Atlantic in May.

 

Read More: George Soros is spending millions on local prosecutor elections – Business Insider