Duty Ousts Longtime Williamson DA Bradley
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley (Photo by Nathan Bernier, KUT News) and Williamson County attorney Jana Duty (Photo courtesy of Jana Duty for District Attorney)In one of the biggest upsets in the Central Texas primaries, Jana Duty has defeated longtime Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley for the Republican nomination. With all precincts reporting, Duty – the Williamson County Attorney – netted 55 percent of the vote to Bradley’s 45 percent. You can check out full results here.
Duty outspent her opponent on TV advertising in a bid to focus the campaign on Michael Morton, a Williamson County man who was exonerated for the murder of his wife last year after spending 25 years behind bars. Bradley’s former boss, Ken Anderson, was the prosecuting attorney in the Morton case.
As we reported last week, political observers considered the Duty-Bradley campaigns to be one of the most combative in recent history.
Round Rock Leader newspaper editor Brad Stutzman has been covering politics in WilCo since 1984. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nasty, more bitterly contested election than this race that we have in the Republican primary for district attorney,” Stutzman said. “If it was a Western, somebody would have to leave town at the end of it.”
Duty will face Democratic candidate and Georgetown lawyer Ken Crain in November.
