Alvin Bragg, progressive DA who prosecuted Trump, reelected in Manhattan

Progressive Alvin Bragg comfortably secured reelection as Manhattan district attorney in Tuesday's election. Known nationally for his judicial crusade against Donald Trump, locally his opponents focused their campaigns on his security policy, accusing him of having a soft hand.

The Associated Press credited him with the victory just an hour after polls closed. He defeated Republican candidate Maud Maron and independent Diana Florence.

Bragg came into Election Day as the clear favorite in a district with 70% Democratic registered voters, after also easily beating attorney Patrick Timmins in the Democratic primary.

A 52-year-old New Yorker by birth, he came to the district attorney's office in 2022, replacing Cyrus Vance Jr. After taking over, he became one of the most high-profile progressive D.A.s in the country by spearheading several cases of national stature.

Chief among them was the criminal conviction of Donald Trump on 34 counts last year in the Stormy Daniels case, the first against a president (at the time the sentencing was made public, he was just over a week away from taking office for his second term). The Republican claimed the trial was a "witch hunt" and an attempt by the Democratic D.A. to unsuccessfully interfere in the presidential election.

In July last year, the Republican-led House Federal Government Instrumentalities Committee filed a report accusing Bragg and the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, of violating Trump's constitutional rights.

Locally, Bragg staged his first controversy in his first week in office: a statement directing prosecutors under him to seek jail or prison sentences only for the most serious crimes, unless compelled by law. These crimes included robbery, assault and weapons possession.

Because of the controversy, he issued a revision to the policy.

Another of his most famous cases involved Joseph Alba, a former grocery store worker. Bragg arrested and charged him with second-degree murder for the stabbing of a black man who rebuked him for not wanting to allow him to take a bag of potatoes without paying. He later dropped the charges, admitting there was insufficient evidence. Alba then sued for racial discrimination.

Another more recent national profile case involved Daniel Penny. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office filed strangulation manslaughter charges against a former Marine in the death of Jordan Neely in the New York subway. A jury found him not guilty, finding that there was a lack of evidence that the cause of death was strangulation and finding that Penny's actions protected other subway riders.

One more case that gained national prominence was that of Savannah Craven Antao, a pro-life activist, who was assaulted in the middle of an interview by Brianna Rivers. Bragg's office dropped all charges, in the face of Craven's complaints: "Millions of people saw my attack, an unprovoked assault, captured on camera while I was peacefully sharing my pro-life views and engaging in respectful dialogue."

Bragg is also in charge of the high-profile case against Luigi Mangione, the defendant in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.