Democrat Luz Elena Chapa was on track to victory in the Bexar County District Attorney race Tuesday night after campaigning to overhaul the office retiring DA Joe Gonzales has led for eight years.
A Chapa victory keeps the county’s top prosecutor’s office in Democratic hands while elevating a former appellate justice who has criticized its management and distanced herself from some of Gonzales’ progressive policies.
Chapa earned 63% of the early vote, followed by Republican Ashley Foster with 33% and independent Jason Wolff with 4%. Election Day results were still being counted.
Speaking to reporters at her watch party, Chapa stopped short of declaring victory but said she would begin preparing to tackle the troubled office’s significant case backlog and repair relationships with law enforcement.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re headed in the right direction,” she said.
Her mother and children joined her for the evening. Her daughters had flown in from Philadelphia, where they attend school, the night before to vote, she said. She thanked her family and volunteers for their support including her 11-year-old son who she said encouraged her to stand her ground during a bruising campaign.
Addressing supporters, Chapa promised immediate changes inside the office if the numbers hold and she is elected.
“The tone and the culture will change immediately,” she said. “It is going to be an atmosphere where people are valued.”
Chapa built her campaign around restoring confidence in an office she describes as dysfunctional, drawing support from Democratic leaders as well as law enforcement officers frustrated with Gonzales.
She will inherit an office struggling with case backlogs, prosecutor recruitment and retention, strained relationships with law enforcement and scrutiny over its handling of domestic violence cases.
Chapa has never worked as a criminal prosecutor — a gap opponents repeatedly attacked, but one she turned into an argument for outside leadership.
“I embraced the fact that I was an outsider from the very beginning.” Chapa told reporters Tuesday. “I look at things differently through a justice lens, and I look forward to to placing my leadership skills and also my judicial skills to work for the people of Bexar County.”
Changes at DA office?
Chapa has promised to reorganize the office’s family violence division into a special victims unit, with additional leadership and training focused on trauma-informed prosecution. She has also argued that an overburdened office has lost sight of its responsibilities to people experiencing trauma.
Chapa said Tuesday that conversations with victims about changes they wanted in the office had sustained her through the campaign.
“They share their stories and what change they want to see in the DA’s office,” she said. “ I’m grabbing that and holding on to it, and that’s what honestly has carried me through this last year.”
Her emphasis on the needs of those victims and mental health issues is rooted partly in her family’s experiences. As a child, she watched her mother struggle through custody and child support disputes. Her younger brother’s schizophrenia later helped drive years of mental health advocacy.
While pledging a tougher approach to violent crime and repeat offenders, Chapa has also argued that the county must address poverty, addiction and mental illness to reduce people’s repeated contact with the criminal justice system.
She supports the county and city’s proposed diversion center, intended to direct eligible people with mental illness or substance use disorders toward treatment instead of incarceration, and has said she would advocate for additional funding for the project.
Those positions preserve a role for alternatives to incarceration even as Chapa has sought distance from Gonzales. Gonzales won office in 2018 with substantial support from national progressive groups seeking to reshape prosecution through criminal justice reform. Chapa has argued that reforms should be shaped by local needs rather than national agendas.
“We need to make sure that we have a strong pulse on our community’s needs,” Chapa said in May. “Certain policies that work in Travis County do not work in Bexar County. Some policies that work in San Francisco will not work in San Antonio.”
Carrying out her plans will also require rebuilding the office’s workforce, which has struggled with chronic understaffing. Chapa has called for competitive salaries, stronger training and streamlined procedures for reviewing incoming cases to attract and retain staff.
That includes a “strike team.” Chapa said she would assemble to tackle the backlog, by auditing cases individually, giving priority to violent repeat offenders.
She has paired those promises with a commitment to repair relationships with law enforcement, securing support from the San Antonio Police Officers Association and sheriff’s deputies association. The police union, long at odds with Gonzales’ policies, backed Chapa over his preferred successor in the Democratic primary.
Chapa has maintained that closer relationships would not shield officers from prosecution if they commit crimes.
“I’ve always said that whether a law enforcement officer is wearing a blue uniform or a green uniform, if there is evidence of a crime, they will be held accountable and prosecuted to the furthest extent,” Chapa said during the campaign.
Chapa finished first in an eight-candidate Democratic primary before defeating longtime prosecutor Jane Davis, who had Gonzales’ endorsement, by 934 votes in May’s runoff.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.
