A former top prosecutor under Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson is challenging her old boss in next year’s primary.
Andrea Alabi, who is now second-in-command to the Fulton County solicitor general, announced her candidacy Tuesday at a news conference outside the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville.
“Leadership is important,” Alabi said. “We need a leader that will do the work that the citizens have elected them to do. We have citizens crying out across our community wanting justice for their cases, and that’s what I’m doing this for.”
Alabi worked for several years in the Gwinnett district attorney’s office under Danny Porter and just a few months under Austin-Gatson. She was deputy chief assistant district attorney, or third in command, at the time of her departure for the Fulton County position.
Alabi, 41, lives in Snellville. She graduated from Meadowcreek High School, earned an undergraduate degree from DeVry University and a law degree from Penn State. She has also worked as an administrative hearing officer for the Georgia Department of Labor and a criminal defense attorney.
She criticized Austin-Gatson for attempting to ban delta-8 THC, a cannabis extract, in Gwinnett. She also said Austin-Gatson has not done enough for homicide victims and that the county’s homicide conviction rate is low.
“We have violent crime here,” Alabi said. “I would focus my resources on ensuring this community is safe, not going after, you know, those low-level offenses.”
Alabi said she would also focus on second-chance initiatives and partnerships with the school system and community groups to prevent crime.
Austin-Gatson, who is serving her first term, defended her record to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“This is the people’s position,” she said. “They put me here. I’ve done a lot for the community and have a lot more work to do.”
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