When the clock struck midnight on Nov. 8 last year, Broome County residents still didn’t know who their district attorney would be. It all started months prior, when then Chief Assistant District Attorney Mike Korchak faced off against longtime defense attorney Paul Battisti in a Republican primary.
While Battisti would win by a short margin, Korchak didn’t stop there. He’d later run on the Libertarian line in the general election, and actually end up defeating Battisti in a hotly contested race that was decided by absentee ballots.
“I was very encouraged because I did have many supporters that encouraged me to keep going. When the Republican primary last time around didn’t work out the way we wanted, I stayed on the ballot because many people came up to me and said, ‘We need an experienced DA,'” said Mike Korchak, Broome County district attorney.
What You Need To Know
- After losing the primary four years ago, Mike Korchak ran on the Libertarian line in the general election, and defeated Paul Battisti in a hotly contested race that was decided by absentees
- Battisti is a well-known defense attorney who’s been practicing in the Binghamton area for several years
- Korchak was a prosecutor in the Bronx for 25 years, then the ADA, before his win in 2019
“Win, lose or draw, I think it’s always a great experience. I always tell people, do not evaluate your performance based on winning or losing, evaluate based on how you think you did. And I thought we did an incredible job,” Battisti said.
Both men have had no shortage of criticism for the other during each of the campaigns.
In recent months, Battisti has attacked the DA for, as he says, dismissing thousands of cases. Korchak though, says his opponent is misleading the public and instead looking at dismissed charges, which he says often happen when a defendant pleads guilty.
“Cases aren’t being prosecuted. It’s no dispute. You can try to explain it any way you want, but you can’t explain away the fact that over 7,000 cases, 7,000 cases in just three years, have not been prosecuted. And those are anywhere from violent felony offenses all the way down to misdemeanor-level offenses,” Battisti said.
“If 7,000 cases were being dismissed, you’d have 7,000 victims that didn’t get justice. And they’re all keeping quiet about it. It would be amazing. And that just sort of goes to show you that those statistics are bogus,” said Korchak.
The issue of prosecution has been a big topic for both candidates throughout the campaign.
Korchak, a 25-year prosecutor, has called his opponent’s experience into question, while Battisti says Korchak’s “lack of prosecution” is leading to a rise in crime.
“People are lacking their exterior doors, their screen doors. Every house has 5 to 10 cameras on it. People are really scared. And when they’re hearing that, the reason why crime’s up. The reason why we’re hearing about violent crimes every single day is because cases are being prosecuted. That’s very troubling,” said Battisti.
“Mr. Battisti has never prosecuted a single case, never been inside a grand jury, never been appointed a special prosecutor. And it’s going to be really up to the voters of Broome County to decide, do you want a prosecutor as your DA, or do you want a politician?” Korchak said.
If there’s one thing the two men agree on, it’s that each vote matters, as a winner, like last time, could be decided by only a handful of votes.
If Korchak were to lose the primary, he would no longer be able to run as a Libertarian in the general election due to New York’s new third-party laws.
Former Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, a Democrat, will also be on the ballot in November.