Three Democrats vying for Franklin County prosecutor nomination: live election results
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The race for Democratic nominee for Franklin County Prosecutor is too close to call.
With 57% of precincts reporting by 9:45 p.m., Columbus City Councilmember Shayla Favor is in the lead over Anthony Pierson by fewer than 1,400 votes. Natalia Harris, meanwhile, trails behind Pierson by more than 6,000 votes.
Three Democrats faced off Tuesday to be the party’s nominee for Franklin County prosecutor, the position overseeing every felony criminal case filed in the state’s most populous county. A Columbus city councilmember, the city of Delaware’s attorney and the Franklin County Prosecutor Office’s deputy chief legal counsel put themselves forth for consideration.
Whoever wins will face Republican John Rutan in November.
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Pierson returned to the prosecutor’s office as its deputy chief legal counsel in 2023 after prosecuting homicides and deadly police shootings for the Ohio Attorney General’s office. He’s been a prosecutor in Dublin, chief legal counsel for Ohio’s juvenile corrections system and held various prosecuting roles in Franklin County.
Pierson campaigned on five main priorities: improving staff training, recruiting and retaining a diverse attorney staff, increasing transparency surrounding officer-involved shootings, and standardizing plea bargain offers and sentencing recommendations. Specifically, Pierson promised that whenever a grand jury declines to indict an officer for use of deadly force, the prosecutor’s office will release the entire case file within 48 hours.
Harris, the chief city attorney of Delaware, has held prosecutorial positions at both the city and county level in her more than two decades of experience.
At the top of Harris’ priorities was increasing the office’s transparency with the public. She argued that significant decisions – like whether to assign outside counsel to prosecute police officers charged with murder – should be explained to the community. Harris also believes data on who is prosecuted, for what charges and to what result should also be publicly available.
With years of appellate experience, having taken cases to the Ohio Supreme Court and federal appeals courts, Harris said strengthening the office’s civil division is another priority for her.
Favor, recently elected to Columbus City Council after being appointed to it in 2019, ran on a campaign of rebuilding public trust in the prosecutor’s office and addressing systemic issues in the criminal justice system.
Favor was previously an assistant prosecutor in Columbus’ law office, prosecuting zoning, building, health and nuisance code violations. While she’s never prosecuted a felony criminal case, Favor has said the county’s top legal position should be filled by someone who can efficiently and effectively oversee a team of trial attorneys.
If elected, Favor said she would focus on addressing inequalities in the criminal justice system that make it unfair for both defendants and victims, like the lengths of cases, sentencing recommendations and decisions on who, and when, to prosecute.