Torrez wins Democratic BernCo. DA primary by landslide

Democratic candidate for Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez won the nomination in Tuesday’s primary matchup with Ed Perea by a landslide, garnering 67 percent of the vote in early totals.

Torrez served as counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. His resume also includes a decade-long career as a U.S. attorney.

Torrez on Tuesday discussed his plan to handle a massive backlog of cases in the Second Judicial District.

“Anything that’s been dismissed and can be refilled absolutely has to be reevaluated,” Torrez said. “There is a backlog of cases there and we have to take the measure of the resources that are available in the office, prioritize the defendants and go through systematically and re-evaluate those cases.”

Some questions have been raised about a $107,000 out-of-state donation to a political action committee backing Torrez by billionaire George Soros.

“My sense is that anyone who supports me supports the idea of a fundamental criminal justice reform and that’s why they’re supporting this campaign,” Torrez said Tuesday.

It’s unclear whether Soros will continue contributions into the General Election, but the Republican candidate for district attorney, Simon Kubiak, had strong words Tuesday about the donation.

“He received $107,000 in PAC money from George Soros; that’s unheard of for this county race…[it has] less to do with DA and more to do with a national or state-level race,” Kubiak said.

Kubiak is running unopposed in the race to replace Kari Brandenburg, who has served as district attorney since 2001.