Timmins tried to expose Bragg to voters as someone who had increased crime in the area, but his message did not resonate enough with voters to win. “They fear crime, they fear where Manhattan is going, and so they want a change,” Timmins said. “They want a change from Alvin Bragg.” Bragg resisted, saying his team had worked to keep New York safe. “We’ve prosecuted more gun cases and invested in smart prevention, launched new mental health initiatives to get help to those in need, held the powerful to account, and worked closely with law enforcement partners to prosecute those who threaten the safety of anyone utilizing our transit system,” Bragg said in a statement. The Manhattan district attorney, who was first elected in 2021, initially chose not to pursue charges against Trump upon taking office. But the case was brought to a grand jury at the start of 2023, and it began deliberating until it decided to hand down an indictment in late March 2023. Trump became the first former president to be indicted in a criminal case, being convicted over a year later in May 2024. Trump called the trial and its outcome “rigged” and “politically motivated.” Bragg said there was no special favor afforded to Trump after his conviction. “While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today in this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors, by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor,” Bragg told reporters after the verdict. JEWISH DEMOCRAT REBUKES MAMDANI FOR FAILING TO CONDEMN ANTI-ISRAEL PHRASE ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’ The Manhattan district attorney will try to lower New York City’s crime rate. Major transit crime, considered a chief concern by New Yorkers, was down 18% year to date in the first months of 2025, and crime in Manhattan, such as murders, rapes, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larcenies, and grand larcenies of automobiles, is down 13% compared to 2022. Bragg will face challenges in November from Republican Maud Maron and former prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney, Diana Florence, who is running on an independent, “Safer Manhattan” ballot line.