Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., a longtime opponent of former President Donald Trump, will not run for reelection for a fourth term in 2022, as a long list of leftist candidates is running for his place.
“When I applied for this position in 2009, I said that the responsibilities of a district attorney should go beyond getting convictions in court, and that the mandate of a 21st century prosecutor is to advance our justice system and our community,” he said. Vance, 66, in a statement on Friday.
MANHATTAN’S CANDIDATES PERFORM SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES
Vance’s office praised its focus on justice reform in a press release, saying it reduced the total number of cases by 58% and established programs to review implicit bias and equity and social justice.
Vance’s office also praised Trump v. Vance, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Trump was not immune to a subpoena from Vance on his financial and tax records, and People v. Weinstein, which led to the fall of entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein.
In the archive photo for Friday, February 21, 2020, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, foreground on the right, accompanied by assistant public prosecutor Joan Illuzzi, on the left, leave Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in court New York criminal. (AP Photo / Richard Drew, Archives)
“For decades, I never imagined myself as a public prosecutor like my predecessors,” Vance said in a statement. “I never thought of it as my last job, although it is the best job and the greatest honor I will have. I said twelve years ago that change is fundamentally good and necessary for any institution. Having ensured these lasting impacts on our communities, our public policy and our ability to fight crime, the time has come to pave the way for new leadership in the Manhattan prosecutor’s office. “
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Vance is a Democrat, and the race to replace him is already turning into a radical change, as candidates adopt a substantial sentence reform, promise not to prosecute a series of low-level offenses and come up with “decarceration” plans.
Sam Dorman of Fox News contributed to this report.