Opponent Fani Willis, who spent years in the county attorney’s office, outpaced her former boss in the June Democratic primary, but none of the participants received 50% of ‘ the votes, and track of Tuesday.
Willis trounced incumbent Howard on Tuesday by a 3-to-1 margin, according to county election results. With nearly 91% of reports reporting, Willis had more than 43,000 votes, about 73% of the count, after Howard’s 15,800.
There were no Republican candidates on the ballot during the primary June.
Howard called the race “the hottest in America” and reminded reporters that politics is a contact sport. He accepted defeat late Tuesday and promised to reduce Willis’ transfer.
“What’s important to me is to protect the people of this community, and I want to make sure that if their first day in office is a reality, that they continue to protect the people who can live in Fulton County,” he said.
Howard has a lot to be proud of, he said. Not only is he the first elected African-American district attorney in Georgia, but he has won re-elections on five occasions.
He leaves the office under a pile of accusations, but he did not do so in his concession speech. After all, he demonstrated his success in tackling violent crime and homicide, reducing the Fulton County Jail population and making cities safer during his 23 years in office.
“I came with pride and I walk away with pride,” he said, declaring that he is particularly proud of his efforts to prosecute police officers accused of murdering Black men.
He will continue to fight police brutality in the post-prosecutor’s life, he said.
“It’s really rude when you’re a man and you have to tell your children that they’re up for the police and be careful. I do not think it’s the way we should live in this country and that I will be working to do that. change, ”he said.
The Rayshard Brooks murder
Chief among Howard’s prosecutors was his decision to indict former police officers Devin Brosnan and Garrett Rolfe in the Brooks assassination. Rolfe is accused of murder after shooting Brooks when he fled the officers in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.
Howard’s critics hailed the decision as urgent, saying it was a state investigation and appeared to be aimed at scoring political points amid a hot re-election campaign. The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association called the prosecutors a ‘major vote-seeking tactic’. ‘Howard denied the allegations, praising his record of charging dozens of police officers since his office in 1997.
“My hope has always been that we would have one system of justice, that it would be the same system for the police as it is with all the suspects,” he said Tuesday night. “I hope Ms. Willis will continue with this tradition – that if a police officer is involved in any crime the DA is the person responsible.”
Willis kept her victory speech short, hugged her masked team and encouraged the attendees to eat something and go outside and at social distance.
“I want to thank all the officials who were sold who really had the courage to stand up against an official and for what was right,” she said. “I want to thank the voters of this county for believing in me. Tonight is a good night. We have made ‘herstory’. I am just humbled and thank you.”
The good and the bad
Howard will retire with a mixed record. While his handling of the trial of NFL player Ray Lewis and two others accused of murder after a Super Bowl party in 2000 was considered a failure (Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction; the other men were released), were his successes many.
His controversial decision to prosecute teachers and administrators in the Atlanta Public School cheat scandal ended with 11 suspects convicted of racketeering and other charges. Howard has also proudly promoted his Project Level Up program, aimed at reducing recidivism, and his Conviction Integrity Unit. As part of that effort, his office visited a different view of the 1979-1981 child murders in Atlanta. It also released an inmate who was serving a life sentence for a drug report.
He is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which has in the past refused to discuss his probe with CNN, but CNN affiliate WSB reported that it stems from allegations that he illegally increased his government salary with funds from a non- profit.
Earlier this month, he paid $ 6,500 to settle a case before the state commission, which accused him of 14 violations stemming from his alleged failure to disclose his roles in nonprofits, WSB reported.
Howard had previously said he would be “completely released” in both cases.
Three women have also accused him of sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination on gender. Howard doubted the timing of the lawsuits, which he said “came within weeks of the general election.”
“I think people can see through it,” he said. “Guy has been in office for 23 years and then a month or two before the election these harassment days will be submitted.”
CNN’s Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
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