Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg won a wild Democratic primary four years ago against more than a half-dozen opponents en route to becoming the borough’s chief prosecutor. He’s back for another primary, though this time, there are far fewer challengers.
In fact, only one alternative has emerged to Bragg: Patrick Timmons, a civil litigator, former Bronx prosecutor and an adjunct law professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Not that it matters much with two candidates on the ballot, but the primary for Manhattan DA — unlike the contests for citywide posts on the ballot June 24 — will not be decided through ranked-choice voting. You can only make one selection in the Manhattan District Attorney’s contest because the seat falls under the state government’s purview.
Bragg will end his first term in office as one of the highest-profile district attorneys in America, largely due to his case against President Donald Trump. But while he may be known as the only prosecutor to have won a felony conviction against Trump, Bragg maintains that his focus is local.
A rising rate of homicides and shootings as Bragg took office in 2022 buoyed right-wing attacks on him as soft-on-crime. Throughout his tenure, he’s responded by taking a hard line on violent crime. In an interview with amNY Law, Bragg described the city’s public safety as his “North Star,” citing his efforts to curb violence and street crime.
With a steadily declining rate of shootings and murders over the past three years, notwithstanding that citywide levels have not hit pre-pandemic lows, Bragg has cultivated a results-driven response to his critics.
“Now we’ve had a body of work that shows, for example, Manhattan has had two years in a row of index crime being down, and the beginning of this year, following course,” he said.
Timmons, on the other hand, sees things a little differently. He believes the DA needs to do more to target “bullies and bad guys.”
“I kept looking around at what I’m seeing — I raised my kids here — and decided this is really a bad time in New York City in Manhattan for crime, for subway crime and street crime,” Timmons said.
Where Bragg has declined to prosecute fare evasion as a standalone offense, Timmins wants to pursue it as a deterrent. In Timmins’ estimation, Bragg’s policy has resulted in an increase in subway assaults.
Whoever wins the Manhattan DA primary will face Republican challenger Maud Maron and independent candidate Diana Florence in the November general election. If the demographics of Manhattan are any indication — Democrats outnumber Republicans here by a 7-1 margin — the contest may not be much of a competition.
