Republican To Challenge Dallas DA Craig Watkins

The Dallas County district attorney who won national fame for helping free the wrongfully convicted but is now battling legal troubles has drawn his first challenger for 2014.

Democrat Craig Watkins became the first elected black district attorney in Texas in 2007. He's now running for a third term while fighting a contempt citation that could result in jail time.

Defense attorney Tom Nowak says he'll challenge Watkins as a Republican next year. The 34-year-old Nowak formerly worked under Watkins as a prosecutor but was fired in 2010 after attending a Republican watch party the night Watkins narrowly won a second term.

Watkins has denied the firing was politically motivated.

Watkins currently has no Democratic primary opponent. Nowak told The Dallas Morning News that Watkins is failing the county.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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