Alvin Bragg elected Manhattan district attorney

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

published 3 November 2021

Alvin Bragg will serve as the next Manhattan district attorney, after defeating Thomas Kenniff in Tuesday's election, several news outlets are projecting,

Bragg, 48, is a Democrat and former federal prosecutor. Kenniff, a Republican, is a former prosecutor and judge advocate general. Bragg will be the first Black person to lead the office, succeeding Cyrus Vance Jr., a Democrat who did not seek re-election.

In this new role, Bragg will oversee the office's investigation into former President Donald Trump and his family business. Tens of thousands of cases are handled by the Manhattan DA annually, and Bragg said he plans on addressing the disproportionate prosecution of Black defendants, The New York Times reports. He also vowed to protect the public while ensuring fairness, stating he will hold police and prosecutors accountable while showing leniency for low-level crimes.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.