Election 2024: James Montoya announces second bid for DA, second candidate to announce
Former Assistant District Attorney James Montoya, who lost in a previous bid for El Paso district attorney by just over 1,200 votes, is again seeking the highest law enforcement seat in West Texas.
Montoya, who currently serves as a public defender for the El Paso County Public Defender's Office, on Tuesday announced his candidacy for district attorney of the 34th Judicial District, which oversees El Paso, Culberson and Hudspeth counties.
Montoya's new run for the seat comes after a heated race with Yvonne Rosales in the 2020 elections. Montoya ran his 2020 campaign focusing on his experience trying high-profile cases in the El Paso region and Rosales' lack of experience inside a courtroom.
Rosales won the election with 51.9% of the votes, 16,454 votes, while Montoya finished with 48.10%, 15,249.
Rosales did not finish her term as district attorney as she resigned amid a petition requesting a jury trial to remove her from office and allegations that she and her staff intimated witnesses in the El Paso Walmart mass shooting case. The petition claimed "official misconduct and continued incompetence" by Rosales and her administration.
“Despite the disastrous regime of former DA Yvonne Rosales, our courthouse is still standing," Montoya said in a statement. "But we cannot go back to the way things were in 2019; we cannot and should not simply settle for stability. What the DA’s Office needs now, more than ever, is a new and collaborative vision of justice for El Paso. One that listens to and takes into account, all the stakeholders in our criminal justice system, including victims of crime, law enforcement, the judiciary, the defense bar, and those accused of crimes."
Montoya again is stressing his experience trying numerous murder, aggravated assault and other high-profile cases.
"We need a DA’s Office that will prioritize the prosecution of crimes that threaten the safety of our community while also acknowledging that a one-size-fits-all approach to criminal justice is no justice at all," Montoya said in a statement. "And we need an experienced trial lawyer, someone who has actually had to face El Paso County juries, who actually understands how this community feels about crime, to craft those policies and lead that office.”
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As a public defender, Montoya represents indigent clients accused of serious felonies, he said. In 2021, Montoya worked as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice in Oklahoma.
He previously spent more than seven years serving as an assistant district attorney for the El Paso County District Attorney's Office.
Montoya is the second candidate to officially announce a run for the district attorney position.
Nancy Casas launched her campaign for the seat in May. Casas currently is an assistant county attorney with the criminal unit of the El Paso County Attorney's Office.
Bill Hicks, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to take over the DA's Office after Rosales' resignation, has yet to officially announce whether he will seek the seat.
"I have not made a decision yet," Hicks said. "For now, I am so focused on trying to make the right things happen for the people of El Paso that I just do not have time to worry about the political things. I’m sure that eventually I will decide to run, but right now, my focus is on getting this office back on track and on seeking justice for the people of El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties, not on politics."
The primary election will be March 5, 2024, with early voting running from Feb. 20, 2024, to March 1, 2024.
Candidates can officially file for election Nov. 11. The filing deadline for candidates is Dec. 11.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: James Montoya announces 2nd bid for El Paso County district attorney
