America has spent the last 50 years becoming the world’s largest incarcerator. It’s gotten there with substantial help from elected local prosecutors, who have used their extraordinary power to lock people up in jails and prisons at unprecedented rates and for unconscionably long amounts of time.

The story of the 2018 primary season, however, has been the focus and energy on prosecutor races as one strategy to combat mass incarceration. More candidates are running, and more voters are paying attention to these races than ever before.