Democrats are banking on solutions for shoplifting, a type of crime plaguing cities and growing in popularity, as a way to take away the Republicans’ winning platform on public safety and criminal justice this election season.
Retail theft is gradually becoming a serious problem in many Democratic-run areas, particularly in California, New York, and Washington, D.C., to name a few. Democratic leaders, who have struggled to run a platform on curbing crime while working toward comprehensive criminal justice reform, believe a solution to retail theft could be the key to rallying voters in the 2024 election.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is looking to toughen up criminal penalties for shoplifting and to allocate additional funding for preventive measures in her $233 billion budget. The governor is looking to create new police teams focused on the matter, as well as offering a tax credit for businesses to help bolster their security systems.
“I think this is really smart politics from the governor,” Democratic consultant Alyssa Cass said in an interview with Politico. “It’s taking away a big talking point for Republicans. They talk about this retail stuff all the time.”
In Washington, the Council of the District of Columbia is considering the Secure D.C. omnibus bill, which would lower the threshold of a felony for retail theft from $1,000 worth of merchandise to $500, among other provisions.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced a crime bill addressing retail theft earlier this month. California prosecutors and business leaders have long criticized the state’s Proposition 47, which classifies nonviolent property crimes that do not exceed $950 in value as misdemeanors, as “toothless” and to blame for the rise in shoplifting and other thefts.
While Newsom’s proposals would not amend Proposition 47, the bill proposes new penalties for people who steal items and then try to resell them, as well as changes laws allowing police officers to arrest people suspected of retail crimes even if they did not witness the crime in action.
These moves come as Democrats work aggressively to flip the House back to blue this November. In New York, Democrats seek to win five Republican-held seats, with the chances growing after the courts ruled the state must redraw its congressional maps before the 2024 election, giving Democrats a significant advantage over New York contests.
Republicans continue to press their crime message across all jurisdictions, promoting crime statistics and high-profile crimes they say are a result of failed Democratic leadership.
“It’s a perception because it’s happening right in front of their face,” said Democratic state Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, who represents heavily Republican Staten Island. “You walk into a store, and everything is locked up.”
New York Republicans such as Reps. Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota narrowly flipped their districts red in 2022, campaigning on rising crime, and D’Esposito’s contest is considered a toss-up with D+5 by CookPoliticalReport. Without a gubernatorial race, it is possible Democrats could have a better chance of making up the +4 margin that D’Esposito won in the midterm elections.
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However, New York Republicans are not backing down from the crime fight, arguing that Hochul’s moves may be too little, too late.
“Violent crime is still up, and the fact is when you have grand theft auto, when you have retail theft happening all around us, and people still seeing that violent criminals are getting off and being released, yeah, it’s still going to be a major issue,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is also facing a competitive race.
