Cobb County DA ousted by primary challenger

District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. speaks with members of the media during a press conference held at the Cobb County Superior Courthouse Thursday, February 18, 2021, in Marietta. In the 2024 May Democratic primary election, Broady lost his reelection bid to Sonya Allen. (PHOTO/Daniel Varnado)

Credit: Daniel Varnado

Credit: Daniel Varnado

District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. speaks with members of the media during a press conference held at the Cobb County Superior Courthouse Thursday, February 18, 2021, in Marietta. In the 2024 May Democratic primary election, Broady lost his reelection bid to Sonya Allen. (PHOTO/Daniel Varnado)

Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady appeared to lose his bid for reelection Tuesday night when Sonya Allen, his challenger in the Democratic primary, beat him by nearly double digits with 100% of precincts reporting.

Results are unofficial until certified.

Broady became the first Democrat to win the DA’s office in Cobb County in decades, when he won in 2020 alongside several other county-wide Democrats.

Allen is currently a deputy district attorney in the Fulton County DA’s anti-corruption division. Prior to her time there, she worked in the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, where she became the chief deputy sheriff —former Sheriff Neil Warren’s number two — in 2019.

Allen had also received an endorsement from Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who sailed to reelection against her primary challenger.

Broady helped open the Family Advocacy Center in Cobb County, a place for those facing domestic violence or sex trafficking to access resources, legal help and counseling in one location.

He faced scrutiny for not prosecuting Cobb County police officers in two separate shooting deaths of Devonte Brown in 2021 and Vincent Truitt in 2020.

Brown’s family recently filed a federal lawsuit against the officer involved, and their attorneys criticized Broady for not pursuing criminal charges. The DA’s office at the time said in considering whether to prosecute police shootings, grand juries are presented the facts of the case and then asked whether further action is warranted, instead of presenting potential charges and asking the jury whether to indict.