Republican Nominee for Westchester D.A. Drops Out of Race
Bruce Bendish, the Republican nominee for Westchester District Attorney, has ended his candidacy, effectively handing the office to Democrat Mimi Rocah.
Bendish, 73, a criminal attorney with a practice in Elmsford, faced an uphill battle with the county having strongly tilted by a two-to-one margin in favor of the Democrats.
Rocah easily defeated incumbent District Attorney Anthony Scarpino in the June 23 Democratic primary.
The announcement may not have been much of a surprise after the League of Women Voters of Westchester had issued a release on Monday that a planned debate between the two candidates for district attorney was being canceled because Bendish had failed to respond to repeated invitations to participate.
Bendish had also run for district attorney in 2016 and was trounced by Scarpino.
Rocah issued a statement Tuesday morning emphasizing that the issues of keeping Westchester safe and fighting for criminal justice and ethics reform will continue.
“Not having an opponent does not change the fact that we have a lot of work to do to ensure conviction integrity, accountability, prevent gun violence, secure justice for domestic violence victims and sexual assault survivors and implement my revolutionary transparency plan at the Westchester County DA’s office,” she said. “I look forward to serving all of Westchester starting January 2021.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
