Overlooked by most mainstream media outlets, the Democratic primary for Manhattan district attorney will have great consequences not just for the more than 1 million people who live in New York’s most famous borough, but for the rest of the city and the nation writ large. The Manhattan DA’s office, with five hundred prosecutors and a budget nearing $170 million, is the second largest in America, and a trendsetter for DAs elsewhere.

The field for the June 22 primary is incredibly crowded. Though Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has not endorsed a candidate in the race — in contrast to their high-profile bid to elect Tiffany Cabán, who came within one hundred votes of becoming the Queens DA in 2019 — there are several candidates with worthwhile leftist platforms competing for the nomination. If the mayoral race at the top of the ticket has been a disappointment for rank-and-file socialists, with few viable options to choose from, the Manhattan DA campaign offers much more.

Part of the reason the race is so significant is that so few men — yes, they’ve all been men — have held the post at all. Cyrus Vance Jr, the outgoing DA, was elected in 2009. Before him, Robert Morgenthau, one of the most famous prosecutors in American history, first won in 1974. Vance’s tenure was plenty controversial; he drew international headlines for his uneven handling of cases involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Harvey Weinstein, and Donald Trump. Beyond the spotlight, Vance’s office was known for aggressively prosecuting misdemeanors, a practice that punished low-income black and Latino residents.