Reform-minded prosecutors in Illinois and Massachusetts claimed victory Tuesday in races driven by opponents pushing ‘tough-on-crime policies.
Kwame Raul won a second term as Illinois Attorney General against an opponent who accused him of ‘not being aggressive” enough in fighting crime, report Sarah Freishtat, William Lee and Christy Gutowski for the Chicago Tribune.
Republican opponent Thomas Viore, backed by a number of state attorneys around the state had centered his campaign on Raul’s support of the SAFE-T Act, a major overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system aimed at providing alternatives to prison for some offenders.
Raoul, 58, a former Cook County prosecutor from Chicago, succeeded Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate.
In Boston, Former city councilor Andrea Campbell was poised ro become the first Black woman attorney general of Massachusetts after a campaign that also turned on the pace of reforms.
Calling it a “history-making night” for Democrats in the state, Campbell said it was a victory for efforts to bring new voices into criminal justice policy, report Travis Anderson, Ivy Scott and Jeremy C. Fox for The Boston Globe.
“[This is] the first time you have elected a woman of color and a Black woman to serve as attorney general in Massachusetts,” Campbell said. “We don’t just say representation matters, we are showing it, and that history and responsibility is not lost on me.”
She faced off against Republican Jay McMahon who had campaigned on a pledge to end the state’s “crime wave.”
“Everywhere I go in the Commonwealth, we have a crime wave right now, and my opponent, of course, is for defunding the police,” he said during the campaign.
Campbell, 40, whose father was arrested and served in prison for the first eight years of her life, promised to reform the justice system and expand economic opportunity—issues she pursued during her legal career and tenure as president of the Boston City Council.