Jane Davis, left, and Luz Elena Chapa, right, will face each other in a runoff. Credit: Michael Karlis

The Democratic primary for Bexar County District Attorney is heading for a runoff between Luz Elena Chapa and Jane Davis after none of the eight candidates secured more than half of the votes on Tuesday.

Chapa, a former 4th Court of Appeals judge, secured 24% of the vote despite having virtually no prosecutorial experience. Her strong finish also surprised some who questioned the viability of her campaign due to her subpar debate performances and her public alignment with the San Antonio Police Officers Association.

Meanwhile, Davis, the current chief of the Juvenile Section of the Bexar County DA’s office, won 18%. She has more than four decades of experience, recently telling the Express-News that she’s “done every job in the DA’s office except being the DA.”

Neither Chapa nor Davis immediately responded to the Current’s request for comment.

Shannon Locke, a criminal defense whom the Texas Observer described as the race’s most progressive candidate, finished third, with 14%.

Locke grabbed statewide headlines after he vowed to prosecute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who broke the law in Bexar County. He also leveraged his large social media following in innovative ways. Even so, that wasn’t enough to set him apart from the pack.

“I loved San Antonio before, and I love it even more now,” Locke told the Current at the Bexar County Democratic Party’s watch party. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I love being a criminal defense attorney. I have a great life, and we’ll see what the future holds.”

Chapa and Davis have vastly different views on how the DA’s office should function. This election cycle is wide open because current DA Joe Gonzales is retiring at the end of his term.

During debates, Davis maintained that Gonzales’ legacy of keeping low-level offenders out of jail should continue.

However, Chapa staked out a more conservative position, saying voters want change and new leadership. In one debate, she even argued that prosecuting the three San Antonio police officers charged in connection with the shooting death of Melissa Perez, a woman suffering a mental health crisis, was a mistake.

Davis and Chapa will face each other in a May 26 runoff. The winner will take on Republican Ashley Foster, a former Bexar County felony prosecutor who specialized in white-collar crime.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...