Pay Attention to These Insanely Important District Attorney Races

If you care about police accountability, abortion rights, or racial justice, you should be paying attention to district attorney races this election season.

As chief prosecutors in their counties, DAs hold a lot of power to choose who gets charged with a crime and who doesn’t: They can flat-out decide to never prosecute a specific offense, whether it’s terminating a pregnancy or possessing some weed—especially if there are other types of violations they want to take more seriously, like police brutality or corporate malfeasance.

But reformist candidates hoping to curb...