Gonzales makes official his bid to be re-elected as DA
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales officially filed for re-election this week.
A former private practice defense attorney and prosecutor, he was elected as the top law enforcement official in Bexar County in 2018.
“I want to continue with what we’re doing in the District Attorney’s Office,” Gonzales said Wednesday in a video on social media announcing his re-election campaign. “I’m hopeful and confident that the voters will see that we made some huge progress. … Together, we can bring meaningful reform that makes sense while keeping the citizens of Bexar County safe.”
During his initial campaign — a heated Democratic primary during which Gonzales defeated the incumbent, Nico Lahood — Gonzales described himself as a hard worker from a family of modest means who relied on part-time jobs and financial assistance to pay for college and law school.
So far, Gonzales has no opponent in the Democratic primary, which will be held March 1. The deadline to file is Monday.
Gonzales will likely face Meredith Chacon in the November 2022 general election. Chacon, a Republican, is a local defense lawyer and former prosecutor who has championed herself as a district attorney who would be tough and smart on crime.
Gonzales joined the District Attorney’s Office in 1990, where he worked off and on until 1998. That year, Gonzales opened his law practice, and he later served as a magistrate and municipal judge for the city of San Antonio.
After taking the helm at the DA’S Office in 2019, he advocated for criminal justice and bail bond reform, including limiting pretrial incarceration to the most dangerous suspects. Gonzales said Wednesday that he’s proud of what he’s accomplished so far.
Among the initiatives he cited is reviving a seldomused program known as cite and release, which allows people suspected of certain low-level misdemeanors, including possession of small amounts of marijuana, to take a class and pay a fine to prevent having an arrest on their record.
Lahood, his predecessor, had unveiled a similar program, but it was seldom used.
“After two years of cite and release, we’ve had 5,000 people take advantage of that program,” Gonzales said. “We’ve saved the county $3.8 million just in booking costs. That doesn’t cover court-appointed fees.”