Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who gained notoriety in his prosecution of President Donald Trump during his hush money case, won his Democratic primary on Thursday, 76%-24%, against former Bronx prosecutor Patrick Timmins.
Bragg was expected to win the primary and will likely win reelection in November in heavily-blue New York County. Unlike other races, the primary did not feature ranked choice voting.
Timmins tried to expose Bragg to voters as someone who has increased crime in the area, but his message didn’t resonate enough to win.
“They fear crime, they fear where Manhattan is going, and so they want a change,” Timmins said. “They want a change from Alvin Bragg.”
Bragg resisted, suggesting his team had done their work to keep New York safe.
“We’ve prosecuted more gun cases and invested in smart prevention, launched new mental health initiatives to get help to those in need, held the powerful to account, and worked closely with law enforcement partners to prosecute those who threaten the safety of anyone utilizing our transit system,” Bragg said in a statement.
The Manhattan DA, who was first elected in 2021, initially chose not to pursue charges against Trump upon taking office. But the case was brought to a grand jury at the start of 2023, and they began deliberating until they decided to hand down an indictment in late March 2023.
Trump became the first former president to be indicted in a criminal case, being convicted over a year later in May 2024. Trump called the trial and its outcome “rigged” and “politically motivated.”
Bragg said there was no special favor afforded to Trump after his conviction.
“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today in this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors, by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor,” Bragg told reporters after the verdict.
JEWISH DEMOCRAT REBUKES MAMDANI FOR FAILING TO CONDEMN ANTI-ISRAEL PHRASE ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’
The Manhattan DA will try to keep crime down in the nation’s largest city. Major transit crime, considered a chief concern by New Yorkers, was down 18% year to date in the first months of 2025, and crime in Manhattan — like murders, rapes, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larcenies and grand larcenies of automobiles — are down 13% compared to 2022.
Bragg will face challenges in November from Republican Maud Maron and former prosecutor for the Manhattan DA Diana Florence, who is running on an independent “Safer Manhattan” ballot line.