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The two runoff candidates for the Democratic party nomination for Bexar County district attorney have two very different views on the job performance of current district attorney Joe Gonzales.
Speaking on Tuesday on Texas Public Radio’s The Source candidate Luz Ellena Chapa graded Gonzales time as DA with an “F.”
Chapa also claimed that at a recent event hosted by the Northwest Democrats Gonzales confronted her.
“He lunged at me and put his finger in my face and told me he could put his finger in my face because I'm no longer a sitting judge,” said Chapa.
In a statement to Texas Public Radio, Gonzales responded to Chapa’s claim saying he “respectfully denies allegations that he lunged at DA candidate Luz Elena Chapa.”
Chapa, a former Fourth Court of Appeals Justice, is running against Jane Davis, a veteran prosecutor who currently works in the District Attorney’s office.
Davis has positioned herself as the candidate who would continue the progressive reforms Gonzales has initiated at the DA’s office.
“Joe has done some good things,” Davis said.
“He has been courageous in some of the things he's tried to do. I do think that many of the things that he has tried to do need some refinement. And we need to be working especially with law enforcement,” she said.
One of the biggest distinctions between the two candidates is their backgrounds in prosecuting cases, which is a main function of the job of district attorney.
Chapa has never prosecuted a criminal case but that experience was unnecessary to be an effective district attorney.
“My experience is solely as a judge for 13 years, handling thousands of cases,” she said.
Davis, who has 40 years experience working as a prosecutor, said that background is essential.
“I think it's important that the person that's leading this office knows how to try a case from the ground up and know how to advise young prosecutors who may be working under that person,” she said.
Due to the prosecution of three San Antonio police officers who shot and killed Melisa Perez there has been tension between the San Antonio Police Officer Association and Gonzales. The SAPOA is supporting and endorsed Chapa.
Perez, a woman with schizophrenia, was having a mental health crisis at her Southwest Side apartment on June 23, 2023. Police were called to the scene and body camera video shows the fatal confrontation. Perez moved towards the officers with a hammer and they opened fire.
Prosecutors argued she was inside her own apartment, behind barriers, and did not pose a sufficient threat to justify deadly force. Defense attorneys argued the officers reasonably feared for their lives and that Perez’s actions created a lethal threat.
Three former SAPD officers were charged including two with murder. It was described as the first time San Antonio police officers had been charged with murder for an on-duty shooting.
On November 10, 2025, after a monthlong trial, a Bexar County jury acquitted all three former officers on all charges. The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes.
Chapa and Davis both said they have not personally reviewed the files of the case and Davis, who is chief of the juvenile unit, said she was not involved in the prosecution.
Davis said “DA's office did not just pick that case up out of thin air. It came from law enforcement who sent the case over.”
She added that “we need to know that law enforcement must be held accountable. Nobody wants bad law enforcement people on our streets. So, we must hold them accountable. It is important that we do it fairly and it is important that we examine the evidence that is there to know whether to proceed or not. “
Chapa said the “The broken relationship between law enforcement and the DA's office happened long before Miss Perez' case. It's an unfortunate case.”
She did not criticize the DA’s office for prosecuting the case. However, she said “we have to work making sure that we are collaboratively working, making sure that law enforcement is turning over the evidence needed to prosecute a case and analyze it to prosecute to the furthest extent of the law.”
Both candidates said they would not pledge to never seek the death penalty. And they would both use a high standard to decide when it would be appropriate.
The two candidates also said they would be willing to prosecute Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers if they broke the law in Bexar County.
Both candidates said they would support the development of a jail diversion and recovery center that would be steer some people accused of low-level offenses away from the criminal justice system and into treatment. These would be individuals tied to mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities or substance-use disorders.
