With a budget of $124 million in 2020, and a staff of over a thousand, the Manhattan District Attorney (DA) is an immensely powerful office. The DA plays a large part in determining how these resources are allocated, and what types of crime are prioritized, or deprioritized. Incumbent Cy Vance has been heavily criticized in past years for overly punitive policies toward minor drug crime and “quality-of-life” offenses such as bus fare evasion, while letting powerful actors such as the Trump family and Jeffrey Epstein off the hook.

Janos Marton wants to change all that. Marton, a civil rights attorney, leading NYC anti-prison activist, and Democratic Socialists of America member, is running for Manhattan DA in 2021. He has so far released nine detailed proposals that read like a socialist and progressive wish list for criminal justice, including decarcerating Manhattan by 80 percent, eliminating solitary confinement, and combatting wage theft, among other initiatives.

But Marton will have stiff competition. Cy Vance, first elected in 2009, is unlikely to run for reelection next year. Instead, a crowded field of nine candidates in the June 2021 Democratic primary has emerged, including former prosecutors, public defenders, and other civil rights lawyers.