by WorldTribune Staff, May 19, 2017

Leftist billionaire George Soros’s recent losses in the stock market haven’t interrupted his spending spree in pursuit of buying high-profile district attorneys’ seats.

Soros poured $1.45 million into the Philadelphia district attorney’s race to fund a super PAC in support of a progressive lawyer who has never worked as a prosecutor.

Larry Krasner, who was not favored to win before the arrival of Soros’s cash, went on to an 18-point victory in the Democratic primary on May 16, the Daily Caller reported.

Because Philadelphia is a Democratic stronghold, Krasner’s primary victory all but guarantees him a win in the general election in November.

“Soros changed the game,” the Philadelphia Inquirer said.

Analysts say Soros, who also helps fund Black Lives Matter, is bent on installing like-minded DAs in his bid to reform policing methods and soften drug laws.

Last fall, Soros pumped $600,000 into the Houston district attorney’s race. He initially gave $100,000 to Morris Overstreet, a former judge who was the first African-American elected to a statewide office in Texas history. Overstreet’s Democratic primary opponent, Kim Ogg, called Soros’ influx of cash “a last-minute money dump to try to buy the nomination.” Ogg won the Democratic primary and later the general election, thanks in part to her own last-minute money dump from Soros, who spent $500,000 on ads supporting Ogg.

Soon after she was sworn in, Ogg moved to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, placing her at odds with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ call for stricter enforcement of the nation’s drug laws.

Soros spent more than $7 million influencing local prosecutorial races in 2015 and 2016, The Washington Times reported.

Meanwhile, Soros upped what so far has been a losing bet on the U.S. stock market, CNBC reported.

“His two primary plays – against large-caps via the S&P 500 and small-caps via the Russell 2000 – have a notional, or potential, value of $764.3 billion,” according to an analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The plays are through his family office Soros Fund Management.

“They continue a trend he began in 2016 of betting against the market, moves that haven’t worked out well considering the latest leg in the bull market,” CNBC said.

Soros also added to positions in social media with a losing bet on Snap, which is off 15.5 percent since its initial public offering in March.

  Black Lives Matter, Kim Ogg, Larry Krasner, Soros buys underdog’s win as Philly DA: Billionaire’s cash ‘changed the game’, WorldTribune.com