Liberal billionaire George Soros was dealt a rare defeat in San Diego, Calif., as his preferred candidate for district attorney in that city's race was soundly defeated.
Summer Stephan, the current district attorney of San Diego County, won by 28 points. Stephan garnered 237,227 votes (64 percent) to Geneviéve Jones-Wright's 134,753 votes (36 percent).
Soros poured $1.5 million into the California Justice & Public Safety PAC, which was established by Whitney Tymas, a longtime Soros consultant, to bolster Jones-Wright, the Washington Free Beacon previously reported.
Jones-Wright, who claimed during the election that she has never met Soros, appeared at last fall's investment conference of the Democracy Alliance, a liberal dark money donor network cofounded by Soros. The conference took place at La Costa Resort, located just 30 minutes outside of San Diego.
The Free Beacon was present at the resort and obtained documents that showed that Jones-Wright was on a panel cohosted by the billionaire discussing district attorney race efforts for 2018.
Soros's involvement was part of his quiet efforts to overhaul the criminal justice system across the United States by funding far-left candidates for district attorney. Jones-Wright also received the backing of other liberal PACs such as the Real Justice PAC, a committee cofounded by Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King and former staffers of Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign.
Unlike past district attorney candidates who were on the opposite end of Soros money, Summer Stephan's campaign strategist, Jason Roe, made it a central point to focus on the outside cash flowing into the county from the liberal financier.
As part of the effort, Stephan's campaign launched ThreatToSanDiego.com to draw attention to Soros's involvement. The DA regularly talked about Soros during local and national television interviews.
A large group of Los Angeles-based California deputy district attorneys also came out in opposition to Soros dumping money into the state, calling his efforts an "assault on the criminal justice system."
Soros, who spent hundreds of thousands on activities to support Jones-Wright, pulled out of the race one week before Election Day.
Soros has spent millions funding district attorney candidates in numerous states. Prior to the San Diego, Soros-backed candidates have lost only two out of 14 races.