In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, voters in two of Texas’ most populous counties were bombarded with warnings that their safety hinged on voting down two reformist district attorney candidates.
Incumbent Travis County District Attorney José Garza was “lenient” on rape and child sexual assault and put a “political bullseye” on police officers, his Democratic primary opponent Jeremy Sylestine alleged without evidence. Mailers sent by a dark money group baselessly accused Garza of “filling Austin’s streets with pedophiles [and] killers.”
In Harris County, incumbent District Attorney Kim Ogg, who was elected in 2016 on a reformist platform but later veered right and fought against cash bail reform, claimed she was facing a primary challenge from progressive Sean Teare because she “did not agree to open the doors of the jail to violent offenders.”
Despite the fearmongering, voters in both counties overwhelmingly chose the candidates promising to reform the criminal justice system. Garza and Teare were declared the winners on Tuesday night after early returns showed Garza with 67% of the vote and Teare with 75%.
“Anonymous dark money organizations spent untold dollars promoting lies and peddling misinformation to try to scare voters into turning their backs on progress,” Garza said in a Tuesday night victory speech. “This community didn’t take the bait, and I’m so grateful to all of you for that.”
Although both candidates will face Republican challengers in the November general election, they are running in counties that lean Democrat.
Garza, a former public defender, and labor and immigrant rights attorney, was elected Travis County district attorney in 2020. In an interview with The Appeal, he promised to prosecute police violence, cease prosecution of low-level drug offenses, oppose the construction of a new jail, work to protect immigrants from…
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