Armed with scores of endorsements from powerful elected officials, key law enforcement organizations and deeply entrenched labor unions, veteran prosecutor Jackie Lacey is poised to become Los Angeles County’s first African-American district attorney.
With slightly less than 10 million residents spread over 4,057 square miles, Los Angeles County is the nation’s largest and claims more than a quarter of California’s total population of nearly 38 million people. Just 9.3% are African-American.
Only a small number of district attorneys, nationwide, moreover, have been African-American. Blacks elected to high powered prosecutors seats throughout the country include Seth Williams, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (Philadelphia County), Robert Johnson, in Bronx, New York, (Bronx County), Paul L. Howard, in Fulton County (Atlanta, Georgia) and Robert Schuler Smith, in Hinds County, (Jackson, Mississippi).
Lacey, who for 10 years has been the county’s second highest ranking prosecutor (she is Chief Deputy District Attorney) is locked in a battle with Alan Jackson in the non-partisan election which will be decided on November 6. If Lacey defeats Jackson, she will not only become the first black district attorney in the county’s 162-year history, she will also be the first woman to hold the office. Lacey is a Democrat, Jackson is a Republican…
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