Allegheny County District Attorney Zapala will run for re-election

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala announced Friday that he plans to run for re-election next year. If elected, it will be his seventh term in office.

So far, none of the Republican and independent candidates have announced their intention to run for office. But Zapala is likely to attract more progressive challengers from within her own Democratic Party.

Zapala faced criticism persistent racial inequalitiesin Allegheny County the criminal justice system.

In 2021, he was widely condemned for ordering lawyers around his officedeny plea bargains to black criminal defense attorneys who called the prosecutor’s office “systematically racist.” Zapala eventually reversed the policy.