Bexar County District Attorney Race: Chapa, Foster and Wolff Run for an Open Seat — and an Office Carrying a Backlog
Joe Gonzales is retiring after two terms, so Tuesday elects Bexar County's next chief prosecutor from a three-way field: Democrat Luz Elena Chapa, a former appeals judge; Republican Ashley Foster, a former assistant district attorney; and independent Jason Wolff, who spent a decade as a prosecutor and eight years on the bench. The winner inherits a case backlog, staffing shortages and hard questions about domestic-violence prosecutions.
For the first time in eight years, Bexar County will elect a district attorney who is not Joe Gonzales. Gonzales is retiring after two consecutive four-year terms, and the open seat has drawn a three-way general election that plurality will decide on Tuesday, November 3, according to the race records and candidate accounts read this cycle: Democrat Luz Elena Chapa, Republican Ashley Foster and independent Jason Wolff are competing to lead the office beginning in 2027.
The three arrive by very different roads. Chapa is a former judge of the Fourth Court of Appeals who won a crowded Democratic primary and a close runoff against the outgoing office's juvenile division chief, campaigning on fully funding the DA's office, cutting the backlog of unprosecuted domestic-violence cases and repairing relations with local law enforcement, per the runoff account read this cycle; she carries endorsements including the San Antonio Police Officers Association and Sheriff Javier Salazar. Foster is a former assistant district attorney who was the lone Republican to file, and her campaign picked up a cross-party endorsement on October 26 when Sam Millsap — the county's Democratic district attorney from 1982 to 1986 — endorsed her, arguing from his own tenure, per the San Antonio Current's account. Wolff runs as an independent on a long courthouse résumé — ten years as a Bexar County prosecutor, eight years as a county court-at-law judge and four in criminal defense, per his campaign profile — under the slogan "Person Before Party."
The race has already been to court once: the Bexar County Republican Party and Foster sued to strike Wolff from the ballot, and 225th District Judge Christine Vasquez Hortick ruled in September that the plaintiffs had not provided enough evidence, leaving Wolff on the ballot, per the Current's account of the ruling. Whoever wins inherits the office as KSAT's pre-election reporting, read this cycle, describes it: a backlog of criminal cases, staffing shortages, and standing questions about how prosecutors handle domestic-violence allegations — the issues all three candidates say they would approach differently. Polls are open Tuesday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at any Bexar County vote center.
