Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer is losing political support and facing calls to resign after racist comments he made while discussing the case of a Black murder defendant came to light last week.
With a primary election against two former prosecutors set for June, it is unclear how much the comments will ultimately hurt Spitzer, especially in Orange County, where tough-on-crime candidates are typically popular.
But the fallout from the comments has put Spitzer on the defensive, with fellow district attorneys dropping their endorsements and a civil rights leader saying Spitzer’s views smacked of the Jim Crow South.
“This could be a turning point in a much bigger story, or a flashpoint that gets a lot of attention and then is forgotten long before the ballots are counted. It remains to be seen which this is,” said Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College. “History is littered with premature political obituaries, and I don’t think anyone should be writing one for Spitzer.”
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