MANHATTAN — Alvin Bragg, who would be Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, has officially been declared the winner of the Democratic primary race for the role.
The New York City Board of Elections on Tuesday announced certified results for the June 22 primary, after absentee ballots had been counted. Bragg has been considered the presumptive winner of the primary since earlier this month when his closest opponent conceded.
As district attorney, he would take over an investigation of former President Donald Trump and his company that the office has been conducting.
In heavily Democratic Manhattan, Bragg is widely expected to win the general election in November against Republican Thomas Kenniff.
Current DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is retiring at the end of the year. Vance’s successor will be just the fourth-elected district attorney in Manhattan in the last 80 years. Frank Hogan, the namesake of the street where the office is located, served for 31 years. Robert Morgenthau was in office for 34 years, and Vance will leave after 12.
It’s one of the most high-profile prosecution jobs in the world, dramatized on TV’s “Law and Order” and “Blue Bloods.” The district attorney oversees a staff of 500 lawyers and has a budget of about $125 million.
Bragg took on Tahanie Aboushi, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, Liz Crotty, Diana Florence, Lucy Lang, Eliza Orlins and Dan Quart.
Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, was the chief deputy state attorney general leading a special police-involved shooting investigation team.
The Manhattan district attorney is the top prosecutor in New York County. They are responsible for holding those who violate state and local laws accountable.
The Manhattan DA also shapes criminal justice policy, including reforms and crime prevention strategies.
With over two dozen units and bureaus ranging from child abuse and cybercrime to tax crimes, human trafficking and hate crimes, the district attorney has help from dozens of assistant district attorneys who handle investigations and prosecutions. There’s also an expansive office support staff that assists the assistant district attorneys in their work.
The race could decide whether the next district attorney will continue criminal justice reforms, which in recent years have included scaling back drug prosecutions and locking up fewer defendants for long periods while they await trial.
