Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg facing re-election amid sharp attacks on legal system, Trump presidency

Seeking a second term unopposed, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg may not face significant challenges on the campaign trail this year, but he will be running for reelection in a supercharged political environment that’s seen the legal system itself come under attack.

That reality comes into sharp focus Monday when President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office as the first felon to do so after Bragg’s office formally secured his criminal conviction less than two weeks ago.

While Trump hasn’t repeated earlier comments he made calling for Bragg’s prosecution since winning reelection, his second presidential term could present an uncomfortable dynamic for the DA.

Bragg and other New York officials involved in Trump’s hush money case have repeatedly been singled out by the president-elect in conspiratorial attacks that a prosecutor at Trump’s sentencing described as “a coordinated campaign” to intimidate law enforcement and undermine the criminal justice system.

In a recent interview with the Daily News, Bragg didn’t directly address the threats by the incoming commander-in-chief or the preparations he may be taking. But he said the growing prevalence of disinformation surrounding cases brought by his office and its ramifications are of deep concern.

“The issue that’s adjacent that’s even more alarming to me is the targeting of law enforcement,” Bragg said. “Particularly prosecutors that are working on public corruption, otherwise high profile matters, are being targeted with violent rhetoric that is just inconsistent with seeking justice,” he added.

“I think there are people purposely attempting to undermine our system.”

Three years in the spotlight

Bragg capped his third year as DA with a blitz of major cases.

In the third week of December alone, he saw Trump’s historic conviction secured when a judge refused to throw it out, indicted the most wanted man in America, Luigi Mangione, for the Midtown killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and filed a bombshell public corruption case against the woman who was long the most influential voice in Mayor Adams’ ear, Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

Add to those cases indictments against alleged Midtown serial killer Ramon Rivera, a pair of alleged child sexual predators, and a guilty plea secured from finance executive Michael Olsen for sexually abusing teenage girls.

Bragg called the week “humbling and sobering.”

“It’s a way to describe the last three years,” he said.

Following his historic election as Manhattan’s first Black DA, Bragg’s debut on the national stage coincided with his first day on the job following the poorly executed release of his “day one” memo to staff, which outlined some of his progressive prosecutorial policies. The fiasco quickly snowballed into police unions protesting for his removal and a national wave of bad press, even as he instantly backtracked on some of the most controversial policies.

Though shootings in Manhattan are down 40% since Bragg took office, the “soft on crime” criticisms have stuck among some of his staunchest critics on the right who blame him for crime in the city — often boosted by Trump along with the claim he goes harder on white defendants. Ken Frydman, a longtime PR man who’s worked closely with the NYPD, told The News the DA still has “no support” among the cop unions.

The “soft on crime” framing has frustrated some of Bragg’s critics on the left, who say it’s inaccurate. According to figures compiled by the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, as of last October, more detainees were awaiting trials on charges brought by Bragg’s office than in cases brought in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island — with Manhattan defendants making up around 32% of the city’s pretrial jail population.

“This [soft on crime] narrative is based on some statements he made his first week. In fact, he has failed to live up to his campaign promises,” said Eliza Orlins, a veteran Manhattan public defender who ran against Bragg in the last election, who heavily criticized the DA’s decision to bring rarely-filed first-degree murder and terror charges against Mangione carrying the possibility of life without parole. 

“I think that what he did in the Luigi Mangione case is emblematic of what his office has done throughout his tenure, which is utilize enhancements to try to get harsher sentences for people facing criminal charges. He’s used hate crimes enhancements. He’s used bump-ups, despite promising that he wouldn’t.” 

Asked about his handling of the Mangione case and how deeply his choices are influenced by public perception, Bragg insisted his only concern is deterring people from breaking the law.

“I want to deter a cold blooded, targeted attack on a Midtown street — yeah, that’s a message I want to send. That’s got nothing to do with politics or how someone else may perceive it,” Bragg said. “I don’t want more people dying in the middle of Manhattan.”

The work ahead

With no Democratic challengers vying for his seat, Bragg is expected to cruise to reelection in liberal-leaning Manhattan. Maud Maron, a right-wing activist and former public defender, is seeking the Republican nomination.

His campaign for DA logged $1.3 million cash on hand in his public campaign filings this week, including $419,323 raised in the last period.

Looking toward the year ahead, the DA said he’s focused on searching for more avenues to combat recidivism and the city’s mental health crisis. On Thursday, he introduced legislation in Albany to address a spike in case dismissals against suspects accused of misdemeanors deemed mentally unfit for trial.

The “SUPPORT Act” Bragg introduced with state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and state Assemblymember Tony Simone would mandate the assignment of care management teams to people released under such circumstances.

The DA said the proposal addresses a key driver of recidivism among low-level offenders, citing a spike of more than 13,000 dismissals from 2019 to 2023. Like other initiatives by Bragg’s office that seek to provide more options to people with mental illness consistently clashing with the system, Bragg said the bill aims to decrease the likelihood that people will re-offend. 

Richard Aborn, the president of the Citizens Crime Commission and a Bragg ally, said the DA was making the best use of a prime perch in the U.S. to promote criminal justice reforms.

“I think Alvin has matured very, very well in the position and has really accepted the idea that the mallet is no longer the principal tool of prosecution, and that now it’s a scalpel and that he’s not hesitant to use that scalpel,” Aborn said. 

“He’s rapidly gaining a reputation as a thoughtful prosecutor who understands the various balances.”