Georgia prosecutor bringing election case against Trump faces rare Republican challenger

ATLANTA – Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Democratic Georgia prosecutor Accusations against former President Donald Trump He faces a rare Republican challenger in his re-election bid in the state’s most populous district because of his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Lawyer Courtney Kramer, who interned in the White House counsel’s office during the Trump administration, said she wanted to bring transparency and accountability to the office. But Willis, who easily fended off a challenge He is from the left in May’s Democratic primary, telling the Associated Press he is confident he will win.

“He’s going to lose, and he’s going to lose badly,” Willis said of Kramer. Willis said voters should give him four more years because of his record in office, including a pre-indictment diversion program he started and a program in schools encouraging students to choose alternatives to gangs and crime, as well as a reduction in homicides and backlogs. from unlitigated cases.

Fulton County, home to about 11% of the state’s voters, is a Democratic stronghold where no Republican has run for district attorney since 2000. Willis has raised $2.1 million compared to Kramer’s $278,000 and is heavily favored to win.

Kramer, 31, who grew up in Fulton County and knows the political landscape, visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion, posted photos on Instagram along with a “who’s who” of MAGA personalities and claimed that many of the former president’s staunchest allies are in Georgia. also as friends. But he says that shouldn’t stop anyone from voting for him, even Democrats.

His mantra for the campaign was: “This isn’t a question of right versus left, it’s a matter of right versus wrong.”

Willis, 53, became district attorney in January 2021 and rose to national prominence a month later when did he announce He said he was investigating whether Trump and others broke any laws as they tried to hand over their narrow loss in the state’s 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. In August 2023, he obtained a sweeping racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others.

He spent 17 years in the office he now heads under his predecessor, Paul Howard, and then worked as a magistrate and defense attorney. he beat Howard is a bitter Democratic primary struggle In 2020.

He wants to serve three terms as district attorney and then begin teaching at Howard University in Washington, where he studied as an undergraduate, he told the AP. He created a domestic violence investigation unit and said he plans to focus on creating more county resources for victims of these crimes if elected to a second term.

While Trump’s case has won him fans among Democrats across the country, it has also made him a target of the former president and his allies. He has been criticized for some time by friends and foes alike romantic relationship with Nathan Wade hired special prosecutor to lead the cause. The presiding judge reprimanded him for a “colossal error of judgement.” A. pre-trial objection between judge’s decision allowed the prosecution to proceed effectively stoppedThat disappointed some Democrats who had hoped the case against the Republican presidential candidate would be heard before the general election.

Kramer said entered the race for district attorney Trump’s indictment in March, which accused Willis of pursuing the case for personal political gain, prompted him to run. While some have suggested Kramer will run to dismiss the case, Kramer has said he would recuse himself if elected because he served in the Trump White House and worked with the two other people charged — attorney Ray Smith and former state GOP chairman David Shafer.

Some progressive Democrats and defense attorneys are upset with Willis’ tough-on-crime approach; She says he overused gang and racketeering laws, unnecessarily complicating cases to obtain higher sentences. A high profile example is Lawsuit against rapper Young Thug et al. The prosecution’s case has been going on for almost a year; There are too many witnesses left to call, and the judge recently suggested the prosecution was doing “really bad lawyering.”

Kramer said he would dismiss the case, saying it was mishandled and a waste of resources.

Willis, known challenge in the face of threats And Harsh reactions to those who slanderHe declined to discuss specific cases but rejected Kramer’s criticism, calling his opponent ignorant and “completely unqualified.”

“He never tried a case. He never practiced criminal law,” Willis said. “All he is is a right-wing politician trying to carry right-wing politics.”

Kramer was extremely active in Republican political organizations. He became a lawyer in December 2020 and helped Trump’s election campaign. He said his law practice for the past several years has focused on civil litigation.

He acknowledged his lack of experience in prosecution or management, saying he had good decision-making and leadership skills. He said he would be transparent about the office’s finances and work to move cases quickly. When asked several times about specific policies or goals, he said he would have to wait until he was in office to make those decisions.

Kramer, like many others, criticized Willis for the crowded conditions at Fulton County’s main jail, saying people were languishing there without any investigation of their cases and also that violent crimes had increased under Willis’ watch.

But since Willis took office, violent crime has mostly decreased in the largest city in his jurisdiction. There were 157 homicides in Atlanta in 2020 and 135 last year, and this year’s numbers are 13% lower than a year ago, according to police data. Robberies and aggravated assaults are also down, and rapes had been falling steadily but increased this year.

Fulton County’s main jail still stands struggling with problemsbut overcrowding in the county system increased. Three days before Trump was indicted, 3,571 people were in custody in the county and 1,683, or 47%, had not been charged. 2,584 people were in custody on Friday; There were no charges against 638 of them, or 25%.