Democratic leaders of blue cities are beginning to backpedal on their efforts to reform the criminal justice system, largely influenced by George Floyd’s death in 2020.  

Now, Democrats are beginning to embrace conservative tough-on-crime policies as crime and immigration surge in sanctuary cities across the United States by implementing more police power, tougher penalties for offenders, and taking aggressive stances on theft.

Here are three reasons why progressive cities are starting to favor stricter crime policies. 

Leaders are facing pressure from voters amid crime and immigration surges

Even in Democratic strongholds like California, residents have been pressing city leaders to tackle the crime influx that failed to recover following the pandemic. On Super Tuesday, San Francisco voters approved a measure that would require welfare recipients to pass a drug screening before receiving cash payments. Voters also supported another measure that would lift restrictions on law enforcement to use public surveillance in order to crack down on crime. 

Drug recovery advocates and city minority groups have been putting pressure on leaders in San Francisco to be more aggressive on the city’s crime problem as smash-and-grabs sweep the city and businesses close up shop.  

In 2023, Washington, D.C., saw its deadliest year since 1997. Frustrated residents urged leaders to adopt stricter crime policies, and even spearheaded recall efforts on two of the city’s council members for not being tough enough on the city’s crime problem. After months of public complaint, the nation’s capital passed a bill that included 100 proposals to help combat crime. 

Democratic leaders running for reelection are playing politics 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s reelection efforts appear to be shrinking, with a recent poll showing her poor favorability among voters, of which 20% chose her rival Mark Farrell as their first choice, while Breed came in at 18%. 

Breed, who in the past has sold herself as a centrist with a tough-on-crime approach, could be attempting to remedy her slip with voters who are unhappy about the city’s crime struggles and budget deficit by enacting strict crime legislation to strengthen her reelection prospects.

“They said San Francisco makes it too easy for people to access and to use drugs on the streets of the city, and we need to do something a lot more aggressive,” Breed said last month after a string of burglaries at a local athletic store.       

In New York, crime was up 45% in January compared to January 2023. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams deployed the National Guard on Wednesday to New York City’s subway system after recent violent attacks on the transit system. Hochul has redoubled efforts to combat the city’s crime surge. While New York has experienced one of the highest migrant influxes in the country, resulting in an uptick in violent crime, Hochul is also up for reelection in 2026.  

Hochul narrowly beat former Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in 2022 after Republicans accused the governor of being soft on crime. Hochul’s campaign told Politico that she plans to continue her crackdown on the city’s crime well into 2026.

Protection from GOP attacks 

Democrats’ shift away from progressive crime policies could also be an attempt to stave off and immunize themselves against Republican attacks as they head into a critical election. 

At the end of last year, California Republican lawmakers slammed Democratic leaders for their overwhelming retail theft problem.  

California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Patterson told Fox News the high crime and theft rates have been exacerbated by Democrats’ loose crime policies. 

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“We’re seeing the repercussions of [those policies]. And not only that, but they continue to double down on these soft-on-crime policies,” Patterson said. “It’s just a very, very sad reality of one-party rule in California.”

“The experiment has not worked. No one is looking at California and saying, ‘This is what we should be doing,’” she said. “And in fact, we’re seeing that with the people that are just getting up and leaving.”