Josh Katcher Enters Race For Arlington’s Commonwealth's Attorney

ARLINGTON, VA — A former deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Arlington and Falls Church announced Tuesday that he plans to seek the Democratic nomination for Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney, with the goal of replacing his former boss.

Using the slogan “Real Reform, Real Justice,” Josh Katcher said that as Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney, he will prioritize ensuring that residents feel safe in their homes, schools and communities. He will be running in the Democratic primary next June against incumbent Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who announced her bid for re-election last week.

“Crime is rising in Arlington. There is no doubt about it and we have the data from the Arlington County Police Department to prove it,” Katcher said in a statement. “People are concerned about their safety and their property. Denying this or falsely alleging it is part of some media-driven narrative doesn’t solve the problem.”

The Office of Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney is responsible for prosecutions in Arlington County and the City of Falls Church.

In January 2020, when she took office, Dehghani-Tafti promoted Katcher to senior line prosecutor, according to his campaign website. In 2021, she promoted him to deputy commonwealth’s attorney, where he managed a team of prosecutors. He resigned from the position in August and is now "running full-time to get Reform right," a campaign spokesperson said.

"We have an uphill road to climb. Let’s be candid: my opponent will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from PACs outside of our community," Katcher said in a statement. "Our campaign, by contrast, is going to be people-powered. It will be the community’s campaign."

In a campaign email sent out Wednesday, Dehghani-Tafti listed the campaign promises she kept since taking office in 2020, including focusing her office's time on "serious, violent crimes," establishing a restorative justice program, ending the practice of asking for cash bail, establishing an open file discovery, and stopping the seizure of private property using civil asset forfeiture without conviction.

"I am proud of this record, but it took immense managerial effort to shake up the culture of an office that in the year 2000 still did not provide electronic discovery to defense counsel, give prosecutors remote access to their own files, and maintain secure case management and email systems," Dehghani-Tafti said in a statement.

"And I'm equally proud we accomplished this progress while at the same time our community avoided the rise in violent crime most jurisdictions experienced in the wake COVID," she added.

In 2012, Katcher was hired as a full-time assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Arlington when Theo Stamos was commonwealth’s attorney. In his time in the commonwealth’s attorney office, Katcher said he tried hundreds of cases and more than 50 jury trials, ranging from traffic infractions to murder.

In June 2019, Dehghani-Tafti defeated Stamos in the Democratic primary in a campaign centered on criminal justice reform. She did not face an opponent in the general election in 2019.

After leaving as commonwealth's attorney in 2020, Stamos joined the U.S. Department of Justice and now works as special counsel to Jason Miyares, the Republican attorney general of Virginia.