Democrat Luz Elena Chapa held a commanding lead in the race for Bexar County district attorney as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, pulling 63% of the vote in early returns. Republican Ashley Foster trailed with 33%, and independent Jason Wolff drew 4.2%. The race had not been called, and officials cautioned that the numbers could shift as additional ballots were counted.
The three candidates are vying to replace Joe Gonzales, the two-term district attorney who announced in June 2025 that he would not seek a third term, according to KSAT. Whoever wins is set to take office Jan. 1, 2027, inheriting an office that KSAT describes as facing a backlog of criminal cases, staffing shortages and lingering questions over how prosecutors handle domestic-violence allegations. The San Antonio Express-News reported the office currently carries a felony backlog of more than 2,600 cases, and all three candidates made clearing it their top campaign promise.
Chapa, a 53-year-old former Fourth Court of Appeals justice who has never worked as a prosecutor, defeated prosecutor Jane Davis in the Democratic primary runoff in May, according to the Express-News. Bexar County's official results from that May 26 runoff show Chapa won with 50.81% of the vote, or 28,810 ballots, to Davis's 49.19%, per Bexar County records. Chapa's campaign has focused on aggressively prosecuting defendants accused of domestic violence, including cases where a victim has signed an affidavit of non-prosecution, the Express-News reported.
Candidates Split on Fixing a Strained Office
Foster, 53, began her career as a prosecutor in the Bexar County DA's Office and now practices civil trial law at Foster & Foster, a firm she co-owns with her husband, according to the Express-News. She ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Wolff, 57, also began his career as a Bexar County prosecutor before becoming a criminal defense attorney and a former county court judge, per the same account, and he qualified for the ballot in July 2026 after submitting enough voter signatures to run as an independent.
The candidates have outlined different fixes for an office that, as of mid-October, reported 32 vacant attorney positions, according to Texas Public Radio. Chapa has promised to prioritize domestic-violence cases, improve cooperation with police and secure resources to fully staff the office, while Foster has emphasized violent crime and repeat offenders and has proposed written charging standards along with an audit of staffing and case flow, per the same report. Chapa has also said she supports fully funding a Bexar County Diversion Center, while Foster has said she wants evidence that diversion programs actually work before backing them further.
Chapa told the Express-News she would bring in a strike team on her first day to begin tackling the backlog, a plan first detailed in an earlier KSAT report on the candidates' proposals. Recruiting and retaining attorneys remains a challenge for the office, Texas Public Radio reported, and county records show the office has said it has been short an entire division of prosecutors for the preceding three years even as cases reviewed for charging decisions rose 28% since 2023, according to a presentation Bexar County officials gave to the Commissioners Court in August 2025.
Scrutiny Over Domestic-Violence Dismissals
The staffing and backlog issues have unfolded alongside scrutiny of how the office handles domestic-violence cases. A KSAT analysis found qualifying dismissals in 1,840 of 2,062 eligible unique Bexar County misdemeanor family-violence cases during the first six months of 2026, a rate of about 89.2%, up from roughly 71% in 2024 and 86% in 2025. The analysis covered only misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury to a family member, not every domestic-violence case the office prosecutes, and the DA's Office disputed aspects of KSAT's dismissal count, saying some disposition categories should be excluded, though it did not provide alternative figures before KSAT's story was published.
On election night, Chapa held her watch party at La Fonda on Main in Alamo Heights, where about 100 supporters gathered, according to the Express-News. She said the past year had been difficult but had sharpened her focus and grounded her in her purpose, and that she was grateful for the chance to speak with victims and learn what changes they want to see in the DA's office. Chapa described herself as cautiously optimistic about the direction of her campaign as the votes continued to come in.
