Houston’s district attorney concedes in Democratic primaries

Sean Teare, a former prosecutor and first-time candidate who promised new approaches to handling low-level criminal cases, defeated Kim Ogg, the two-term district attorney in Harris County, Texas, in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.

Ms. Ogg conceded the race on Tuesday night after early voting results showed her trailing by more than 50 percentage points.

‘If doing my job costs me my job, I will leave with my head held high’ said Mrs. Ogg.

The outcome marked years of growing Democratic discontent with Ms. Ogg, the top prosecutor in Houston, culminating in a steep political decline over the past year. A University of Houston poll last month showed that Mr. Teare, who entered the race as a virtually unknown candidate, with a 38-point lead over Ms Ogg.

Ms. Ogg was first elected in 2016 and was part of a wave of Democrats who pledged to make the criminal justice system less punitive. She was the first Democrat in decades to hold the position of district attorney in Harris County.

But she grew into a lightning rod within her own party.

As voters become more concerned about crime in urban areas, liberal prosecutors across the country have seen their political fortunes change. They have faced occasional challenges, even from moderate Democrats.

Ms. Ogg appeared to adapt to the changing political tides by moving to the center and finding common cause with some conservatives. But in doing so she opened herself up to an attack from the left.

Many voters in the Democratic Party’s base in Houston believed that she was reneging on her promises in favor of a tougher approach to law and order, and they accused her of forging alliances with Republicans against elected Democrats in the province.

Mr Teare, 44, worked under Ms Ogg as a crime and vehicle crimes department head. He caused a wave of discontent among Democratic activists in Houston a formal admonition of Ms Ogg last year by provincial party insiders who accused her of betraying her party’s values.

Ms. Ogg also angered many Democrats by addressing what happened a public feud with the top elected Democrat in Harris County, Lina Hidalgo, the district judge. Ms. Ogg’s office has charged top aides to Ms. Hidalgo ahead of Ms. Hidalgo’s 2022 re-election, a move seen as an attempt by Ms. Ogg to undermine the popular leader. Ms. Hidalgo narrowly won her race.

Ms Ogg, who has defeated the main challenges from its political left in 2020this time faced an even tougher match.

Local organizers, including some from the progressive Working Families Party, rallied support for Mr. Teare, who spoke during the campaign about his mother, an actress who became addicted to heroin and left the family when Mr. Teare was a teenager. (She died more than ten years ago.)

He said seeing her arrest on drug possession charges and the way it affected her life had helped him empathize with people struggling with addiction.

In an interview before Tuesday’s primary, Mr. Teare said he decided to challenge Ms. Ogg after watching several serious prosecutions fall apart and good prosecutors leave her office in frustration. He said the department was “focusing on the wrong types of crimes,” such as low-level drug crimes and shoplifting.

If he wins the general election in November, Mr. Teare said, he would seek to redesign the district attorney’s office, with the aim of both effectively prosecuting violent offenders and seeking alternatives to incarceration in certain cases of drug possession or theft. These changes would be in line with a national criminal justice movement that includes prosecutors in places like Philadelphia.

“I see myself as a Texas version of that,” Mr. Teare said, meaning his approach would be tailored to the state. “I don’t think Harris County is Philadelphia or Chicago.”

Republican politicians in the state legislature have tried to rein in local prosecutors in Texas’ Democratic cities. A new law passed last year prohibits prosecutors from declining to prosecute certain crimes — such as crimes related to abortion or low-level marijuana possession — and provides for their removal if they don’t comply.

In the November general election, Mr. Teare will face a Republican, Dan Simons, a former Harris County prosecutor who ran unopposed in his party’s primary and, according to available records, has raised no money.