BIG: Last week, @Justice_Collab highlighted a handful of prosecutors' races that would be taking place tonight. This was one of the really interesting ones, and the progressive challenger has won.
@Justice_Collab Here's that thread:
In addition to @parisa4justice, who was unchallenged tonight in Arlington County after unseating the incumbent in her primary, @SteveDescano, who defeated the incumbent in his primary in Fairfax County but faced a challenge from the right tonight, has also won big:
Wow. Another one of the races we highlighted went to the more progressive challenger in Virginia. @biberajbb wins in Loudoun County —>
Apologies. Didn't have @HingeleyJim's @ in my first tweet about the Albemarle County race outcome. But, @parisa4justice just tweeted it, so, there it is!
That point from @RebeccaKKatz that primaries matter is key in Queens, where the next DA will be far more progressive than past DAs and, while Caban would have been more progressive, her running moved Melinda Katz to a more progressive position on several issues. And, here we are:
Another point: Races all over states that have very GOP counties are seeing close races for challenges to incumbent prosecutors — who so often in the past just had no challengers at all. Given a real choice, voters are choosing, or at least open to, change.
The importance of the changes that progressive prosecutors can make — and the pushback from police and old-school prosecutors pushing failed "tough on crime" policies — was featured just today in the @washingtonpost:
Virginia is going to be very interesting next year.
Meanwhile, in Allegheny County, PA, independent Lisa Middleman was not able to pull out a win — but she ran an impressive independent bid despite the incumbent running as both a Democrat and a Republican. A quick glance definitely makes it appear that she won Pittsburgh. 
Yes, the PA thing about running as both a D and an R is ridiculous — see: pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/201… — so, good on Middleman for fighting back (and for putting forth a more progressive vision for the office).
MEANWHILE: kron4.com/news/elections…
Very very first run results are starting to trickle in, but as others are saying the ranked-choice voting, and time zone, means we're unlikely to know the outcome on the East Coast before bed. sfelections.sfgov.org/november-5-201…
*weeps softly*
NONETHELESS, we still have news tonight, a big win in the Philly suburbs: In Delaware County, the progressive challenger just won.
I know it’s early, and we’ve got ranked-choice voting to deal with, but it’s important to take a minute to appreciate what an important time this is: Across the country, people are open to a complete rethinking of criminal justice in America. sfelections.sfgov.org/november-5-201…
From big cities to medium-sized cities to the suburbs to the community surrounding Charlottesville in Albemarle County, Virginia, the decision to challenge the old, failed policies that brought us mass incarceration are bringing forward new ideas from new people for a new time.
This is much bigger than it seems even, because it’s happening in races where we never paid attention previously. The ideas — this new vision for public safety — represent an approach that seemed utterly unthinkable even 10 years ago. Now, though, they’re becoming reality.
