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With abortion on the ballot, Bexar DA's race goes to Democrat

Joe Gonzales (center) was reelected as Bexar County District Attorney
Paul Flahive | Texas Public Radio
Joe Gonzales (center) was reelected as Bexar County District Attorney

Incumbent Joe Gonzales won re-election as Bexar County District Attorney, declaring victory shortly after the early vote was released Tuesday night.

"I'm happy and very excited. It looks like we're gonna win tonight, from what everybody tells me," Gonzales said at his watch party.

Races for Bexar County district attorney have increasingly been tied to national issues.

In his two elections, Gonzales proved adept at navigating these tides to victory. In 2018, he unseated incumbent Nico LaHood in the Democratic primary, running on a police accountability and reform platform.

His challenger this time, Republican Marc LaHood (Nico’s brother) was swimming against the tide of abortion access.

LaHood has yet to concede the race, and a spokeswoman said they wouldn’t concede until the entire vote was counted.

LaHood attacked how Gonzales administered his office, but grumbled about it can be hard on both sides of the political spectrum.

Gonzales has struggled to dig himself out of a prosecutorial backlog not of his making and fill critical vacancies in his office.

LaHood also attacked what he called a breakdown in the relationship between police and the DA's office. "That's an inaccurate narrative," Gonzales said. "It's a small percentage of the men in blue that have issues. And again, it's members of the police unions."

But whatever the concerns, this campaign seemed to be less about his record and more about abortion access.

“We can't trust District Attorney candidate Mark LaHood,” said a Gonzales ad running on Facebook in the waning hours of the race.

Gonzales went to great lengths to tie his fate to the issue. “LaHood will prosecute doctors for performing abortions,” it claimed.

Gonzales didn't shy away from the analysis. Basking in the warmth of his victory, he credited women voters for the political success.

"I think abortion is top of mind. We saw that women came out today in huge numbers. They came out during early voting because this is a concern of theirs."

LaHood ran on a back-to-basics, prosecute-them-all-and-let-the-judges-sort-them-out campaign. He too tried to tie the race to national themes, relying on a "Tough on Crime" approach and spikes in the murder rate over the past two years to galvanize anti-incumbent attitudes.

But it appeared, with abortion on the ballot, the message didn’t make much headway outside of police unions. LaHood was endorsed by nearly every local law enforcement union or association.

More than half of Texas voters felt abortion access was necessary in nearly every scenario in a July poll. The issue ranked third behind immigration and the Texas economy in importance in a poll from late last month.

Gonzales said early in the race he would not accept any endorsements or money from police unions. He called it a conflict of interest over bodies whose members he may have to prosecute.

Gonzales may have a rocky few years, having to navigate a second term where many of his partners in law enforcement backed LaHood.

"I hope that we can mend the fence. I hope that we can continue to move forward," he said. "I hope that we can work together in the future. But we'll see."

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Paul Flahive can be reached at Paul@tpr.org