At midnight on New Year's Day — the first moment of 2026 — life will change for attorney Erika Evans for the second time in nine months.
Evans will begin her term as the elected city attorney of Seattle on Jan. 1. Her campaign was a juggernaut – she won with nearly two-thirds of the vote on Nov. 4. But her campaign was also unexpected.
Evans quit her position as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice in March, even though she had once considered that position a "dream job."
Amid a broader purge inside the agency, she opted to run for public office, rather than go into private legal practice or academia.
Evans rolled to a primary victory in August and secured a larger margin of victory in this month's general election. As Seattle city attorney, Evans will represent the city in litigation and civil cases. She will also handle some prosecutions of lower-level criminal offenses.
"What we need at a time like this is fighters and people with grit and experience to fight what we are seeing," Evans told CBS News this weekend.
Evans said the Trump administration's dismantling of the Justice Department's Civil Rights division was among her motivations for leaving her post at the federal prosecutor's office in the western district of Washington this year, where she was handling civil rights matters, hate crime cases and violent crime cases.
She said that soon after Trump took office, the Justice Department leadership sent emails "requiring that we report any colleagues doing diversity work in the office. We had 10 to 14 days to report them or we would get in trouble ourselves. That was pretty disgusting." She said she didn't feel safe at the agency, in part because she was the co-chair of a diversity effort.
Soon after her departure in March, Evans launched her campaign for the Seattle city attorney's position and parlayed her frustration with the Trump administration into a component of her campaign message. In a campaign video, Evans pledged to challenge Mr. Trump: "With your vote, I'll take on Trump and demand the community safety we deserve."
Speaking to CBS News after her victory, Evans discussed a series of plans. She said she will make it a first priority to expedite the processing of DUI and domestic violence cases "to make sure we're being good stewards of public safety."
Evans said she will also monitor for – and take legal action against – any "federal overreach" into the city by the Trump administration, which has already triggered legal battles with other U.S. cities this year, from Washington, D.C. to Portland to Los Angeles.
Evans is one of more than 5,000 Justice Department employees to quit, retire or face termination since January, according to a review by the Justice Connection group, which is a support organization for ousted and former Justice Department workers.
Stacey Young, the Justice Connection founder and executive director, told CBS News that "federal prosecutors are deeply committed to public service, and more are pursuing that mission through elected office when staying at the Justice Department becomes infeasible. We need people across the political spectrum fighting to uphold the rule of law, including at the local level."
Evans is the granddaughter of civil rights figure Lee Evans, who was among the 1968 Olympics track stars who raised a fist in the air during a medal presentation.
