If you’re ready for even more post-election good news, here you go: Deborah Gonzalez, a District Attorney in Georgia’s Western Judicial Circuit, who recused herself from prosecuting the alleged killer of Laken Riley, has suffered a brutal beatdown at the ballot box. Gonzalez lost to Independent candidate Kalki Yalamanchili, who garnered nearly 60 percent of the vote as opposed to Gonzalez’s 40 percent.
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Gonzalez was first elected in 2020 as part of a wave of George Soros-funded candidates who swept into office in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movement. She reportedly promised voters “diversion programs, rehabilitation, and shorter sentences for nonviolent offenders,” meaning she was returning criminals to the streets as fast as she could.
Gonzalez made headlines earlier this year when she removed herself from the case of Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal from Venezuela who is accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley after she had gone out for a morning run. Instead of prosecuting Ibarra herself, Gonzalez instead appointed a special prosecutor, saying, “We will not allow this or any case to be used for political gain.” At that time, she was under scrutiny from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for failing to secure even one guilty verdict during her tenure as DA.
Laken Riley’s murder in February called national attention to the growing amount of violent crime being committed by illegals crossing the border under the Biden administration’s watch. RedState’s Becky Noble wrote at the time:
Most Americans have been saying for quite a while now that the invasion of nearly 10 million illegal immigrants from literally all over the world, with no way to know who they are, puts actual Americans in the most extremely dangerous predicament. We have seen it in action in every major American city as crime rates skyrocket daily. But now, sadly, what everyone has feared was going to happen finally has. This is not the first time an American has been killed at the hands of an illegal immigrant, but it is a textbook example of what the border policies of Joe Biden and his hapless administration have inflicted upon us.
The body of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found near an on-campus lake Thursday morning after she did not return after jogging earlier that morning. The suspect charged in the murder is 26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra.
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The Biden White House issued an underwhelming comment on the murder of Laken Riley, a woman whose young life was snuffed out because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refused to seal the border:
“We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Laken Hope Riley. People should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law if they are found to be guilty. Given this is an active case, we would have to refer you to state law enforcement and ICE.”
Donald Trump criticized the White House’s pathetic response to Laken’s family, saying, “These are people who can’t believe what happened to them and can’t believe what he’s doing. They’ll never be the same.”
On the campaign trail, Trump often brought up Laken Riley and other Americans who were the victims of violent crimes perpetrated by illegals who had waltzed through the porous southern border and gone on to wreak havoc in U.S. communities. The economy may have been top of mind for many voters, but the number of illegals committing violent crimes was surely not too far behind.
Deborah Gonzalez’s overwhelming defeat signals the desire of voters to rid DA offices of soft-on-crime progressives who are allowing crime — and criminals – to run amok their areas. And it’s part of a pattern in 2024 that saw twelve of the twenty-five Soros-funded DA candidates go down in electoral flames; many of these Soros darlings were running in deep-blue districts.
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The election results this year made clear that Americans have had it with the left’s ill-advised, soft-on-crime approach to dealing with criminals, especially those of the illegal variety. We may yet see justice for Laken Riley and her family.