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He's In: Brooklyn DA Hynes To Run For Re-Election As Republican

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes will seek to keep his job by running on the Republican party line after losing the primary last month.

Hynes, who's served as Brooklyn's top prosecutor for 24 years, lost in the Democratic primary to Kenneth Thompson. He had said he would not actively campaign after losing.

As WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported, Hynes' political supporters have been telling him that running on the Republican and Conservative lines was a no-brainer and that he could win re-election if he became actively engaged.

He's In: Brooklyn DA Hynes To Run For Re-Election As Republican

The six-term DA lost to Thompson, who had the backing of the disgraced former Brooklyn Democratic party boss Clarence Norman. Hynes, 78, sent Norman to prison for selling judgeships, Cornell reported.

The DA was apparently irked by Norman boasting that he took Hynes out, Cornell reported.

Even before deciding to actively campaign for re-election, Hynes supporters said they were hopeful the DA would be able to secure a 7th term.

State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) told Cornell last month that Hynes should dominate among Republican and Conservative voters, who account for about 35 percent to 40 percent of the electorate. That means he would have to secure just a minority of Democratic and independent voters to remain in office.

"I do believe that we have a great opportunity here for this district attorney to win this race if, in fact, he engages," Golden said at the time.

Thompson, 48, is a lawyer best known for representing the maid in the sex assault scandal involving former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

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