Two candidates for the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office are facing off in a December 1st runoff. Attorney Deborah Gonzalez led the vote count in that three-way race, which included interim DA Brian Patterson and her runoff opponent assistant DA James Chafin.
“You know, coming in so strong at the 48.5% says a lot about what the community wants and what it expects from that office and that we really are ready to have these changes, so I feel inspired and uplifted by that number, and I think come December 1st, we’re finally going to bring it home.”
There are changes she would like to implement if she becomes the next DA.
“My platform has always been fair and just prosecution, so the idea that there is systemic racism, that there is overcharging that is happening in the DA’s office, understanding that these extremely long probation periods of 10 to 25 years, that they’re not effective and that this system is costing us a lot of tax money and yet, it's not efficient.
Gonzalez had to file a lawsuit in order to have this election.
“Even though we were granted the motion to have the election in July, the governor and the Secretary of State kept appealing it, so we had to go through the appellate court, and then they certified a question to the Georgia Supreme Court.”
Once again, the runoff is December 1st.
