Tali Farhadian, a former federal prosecutor, is currently trailing him by several thousands votes in the race. He stated in a Friday statement that “it’s clear we can’t overcome the vote margin” after counting absentee votes for several days.
New York City’s Board of Election is yet to release any updates regarding the counting of absentee votes. The Associated Press was unable to declare a winner.
Bragg stated that it was a long and difficult journey that began in Harlem. He also said, “That 15-year-old boy who was repeatedly stopped at gunpoint by police is the Democratic nominee for Manhattan District Attorney.”
When voting ended on June 22, Bragg was ahead of Farhadian Weinstein by around 3 percentage points.
Farhadian Weinstein stated that she was grateful to “the legion of women who shared with me their experiences and hopes for a criminal justice program that treats them differently.” She also said that the campaign vision was influenced and inspired by Farhadian Weinstein’s statement. You will always be my support.”
Bragg could win and be the next District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Thomas Kenniff will be the Republican candidate in general election. He is a former prosecutor, defense attorney and Army Judge Advocate General. Manhattan is a heavily Democratic city, with a large number of Republicans.
Bragg, a former federal prosecutor and now a New York Law School professor, would be Manhattan’s first Black District Attorney. Bragg is a Harlem native and worked as a civil rights attorney before entering the government. In a judicial investigation into Eric Garner’s 2014 death, he represents his mother.
Bragg, 47 years old, defeated Farhadian Weinstein and three other former assistants at the district attorney’s offices, Lucy Lang, Liz Crotty, and Diana Florence. Three candidates who were never prosecutors are public defender Eliza Orlins and Tahanie Abboushi, a civil rights lawyer, and Dan Quart, a state Assembly member.
Bragg has previous experience in investigating Trump. Bragg was the state’s chief deputy attorneys general in 2018. He oversaw a lawsuit that resulted in the closing of Trump’s charitable foundation. The lawsuit was over claims that Trump used the nonprofit to advance his business and political interests.
He was the head of a state attorney general’s unit that investigated police killings.
Bragg claimed that he was attracted to law because he had a gun pointed at his face six times as a child — and three times by police. Bragg claimed that an officer pointed a gun at him once, during the 1980 crack cocaine epidemic. He then accused Bragg of being a drug dealer while he walked to buy groceries for his father.
Bragg, who ran for the office of district attorney, promised a culture shift in the office. He prioritized public safety and police accountability, while declining to pursue low-level offenses, and de-emphasizing convictions.
Bragg stated that he would use data to identify racial disparities within the criminal justice system. Bragg stated that he would ask prosecutors to consider whether this case makes them safer when deciding on which cases to pursue.
Two years ago, the Manhattan district attorney’s office investigated Trump’s business dealings. This included hush money payments, property valuations and executive compensation.
This week, a special grand jury indicted Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. They were accused of helping Weisselberg, and other high-ranking executives, evade taxes on the apartments, cars, and tuition aid he was given by the company.
Vance, a Democrat was widely expected to not seek reelection, but he waited until after the Supreme Court ruled.
Vance will continue to lead the Trump probe until Trump leaves office.
Vance’s eight Democratic candidates have all said that they aren’t afraid to take on Trump but were careful not to make it a campaign issue or prejudice the case.
Vance will have served 12 years in office when he leaves. He will be the fourth elected Manhattan district attorney in the past 80 years. Frank Hogan was in office for 31 years. Robert Morgenthau served in office for 34 more years, until his death at the age of 90.
Manhattan district attorney is one the most prominent prosecution jobs in America, and it’s been featured on “Law and Order” and TV’s Blue Bloods.
It employs 500 lawyers and has an annual budget of $125 million.
A separate forfeiture fund, which is bankrolled by Wall Street settlements at a total of more than $800,000,000, is used to grant grants to criminal justice and community organisations and large initiatives such as testing backlog rape kit kits.
