Wise Smith forging ahead with challenge against Willis in district attorney race

ATLANTA — A liberal former prosecutor is pressing ahead with his challenge against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, saying he would bring more “victim-centered prosecution” to the high-profile office.

Christian Wise Smith qualified to challenge Willis earlier this month but said he was “weighing his options” about how vigorously to pursue the challenge. On Monday, he said he was committed to competing in the May primary.

“Primaries are an essential part of the democratic process, and voters deserve a choice,” Wise Smith said. “I’m running to be that option to change the face of the justice system in Fulton County and make Fulton the safest county in the country.”

He and another challenger to Willis, Republican Courtney Kramer, face long odds. Fulton County is a Democratic stronghold, and Willis is one of the most recognizable political figures in the state, if not the nation. She has the advantage of incumbency and amassed a small fortune in her campaign account.

But both could still present her a political headache by trying to turn the race into a proxy fight over her racketeering case that charged Trump and 18 others with conspiring to overturn President Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in Georgia.

Notably, Wise Smith’s statement didn’t invoke the election interference trial or the recent ruling by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee over allegations of an improper romantic relationship with a deputy that allowed her to stay on the case.

He stuck to broader themes, saying he would “work with the community to be solutions-oriented and deliver results that focus on victim-centered prosecution, mass incarceration, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and eliminating the fear of crime.”

Wise Smith received about 23% of the Democratic vote in the 2020 primary for Fulton DA. He ran on a platform that included vows to no longer seek the death penalty, eliminate cash bail and decriminalize drug possession.