Charles Hynes Defeated by Kenneth Thompson in Brooklyn DA Primary Race

By Julie Shapiro
Huffington Post
September 11, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/charles-hynes-kenneth-thompson_n_3906424.html?utm_hp_ref=new-york

FILE- In this Oct. 18, 2006 file photo, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes gestures during a press conference. Hynes was defeated in a Democratic primary contest for Brooklyn District Attorney on Tuesday, September 10, 2013

BROOKLYN — In a surprise rejection of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' nearly 24 years on the job, challenger Kenneth Thompson won a sweeping victory over the longtime incumbent in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

Thompson, an attorney best known for representing a hotel worker who claimed she was sexually assaulted by French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, drew 55 percent of the vote, compared with Hynes' 45 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

Thompson's victory dealt a major blow to Hynnes, whose name will still appear on the Nov. 5 ballot as a Republican candidate, after securing that party's nomination earlier.

Hynes's spokesman George Arzt said Hynes will not continue his campaign, according to the New York Times.

Hynes, the first Brooklyn D.A. to be voted out of office in more than a century, has faced criticism for allegedly not pursuing sexual assault and pedophilia cases in the Orthodox Jewish community as well as concerns over the conduct of one of his subordinates — weaknesses Thompson exploited in his run against the well-known Brooklyn prosecutor.

Thompson is a civil rights lawyer who formerly worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn who lives in the borough with his wife and two children.