BATON ROUGE - For the first time in nearly two decades, the district attorney's race in East Baton Rouge Parish will have a challenger to longtime incumbent Hillar Moore.

Baton Rouge-based criminal defense attorney Ryan Thompson is running against Moore in November's election. 

In the 2020 and 2014 elections, no one signed up to challenge Moore, who has served as the DA since 2009. The last time someone ran against Moore was when he was first elected in 2008, defeating Dan Claitor with 74% of the vote. 

"Prior to that, 16 years as a criminal defense lawyer, and before that 10 years as an investigator," Moore said.

WBRZ Political Analyst James Hartman points out that challenging an incumbent DA can be tricky.

"It's hard to get support from the criminal defense bar, the legal community, because no one wants to make an enemy of the chief prosecutor when you're coming in to defend your clients," Hartman said.

However, Thompson has expressed confidence that he can win in November.

"I saw the deficiencies in the district attorney's office. I believe that the parish deserves better, and I'm here to offer citizens an option for a safe and more just Baton Rouge," Thompson said.

Hartman said convincing voters that a criminal defense attorney can become a good chief prosecutor in a parish where crime tops the list of issues poses a huge challenge for Thompson.

However, Thompson said he's ready for that challenge, citing his almost a decade of experience as a public defender.

"We're going to focus on violent crime, we're going to focus on equal justice and all the communities here; those are the ways in which we're talking about addressing those things," Thompson told WBRZ.

Moore says it doesn't matter who's in the race. For him, these elections are about running against himself, his record and his office's reputation with the public.

"We have done a consistent job ethically, worked very hard every day prosecuting very violent criminal offenders, keeping those off the street, fighting for proper bonds, fighting for proper ankle monitors, surveillance systems," Moore said.

Both candidates are Democrats and say that public safety and stopping violent crime are bipartisan issues they feel people can get behind.

Moore says he’s had success in that regard, pointing to the homicide rate decreasing after a peak around COVID.

According to the East Baton Rouge Coroner's Office, there were 170 homicides in East Baton Rouge in 2021. In 2025, the total was 106, with 68 for 2026 as of August 3. According to the coroner's statistics, from 2009 to 2019, total homicides only eclipsed 100 twice, in 2017 and 2018.

"Better collaboration with the law enforcement agencies in regard, particularly to gang and drug violent offenders, that's probably been the biggest impact that we've seen over the past four to six years," Moore said.

However, Thompson points out that there have been over 1,500 homicides in EBR Parish since 2009, citing the EBR Coroner's office as the source of those numbers. Thompson argues the parish can do better.

"I know the parish is ready for change. We've knocked on upwards of 15,000 doors at this point, and the feedback that we've gotten is that the city is ready for something different," he said.

This race comes amid an ongoing lawsuit by Moore's office against the city-parish over what the DA's office calls a lack of adequate funding. Thompson said that if he were to win, he would have to examine the issue before deciding whether to continue the legal process or back out. 

"We will look at the lawsuit; obviously, we're constitutionally mandated, it's something that has already been filed. It's something that I'll take a more detailed look at upon taking office first," Thompson said.

Moore told WBRZ he does not want voters to be confused by the financial state of the office, and that despite the funding issue, his office remains strong.

"I want voters to go to the polls. I want the voters to vote for me, and I don't want voters to be confused with our state of financial affairs,” Moore said. “We will eventually resolve that. This election is only about keeping Baton Rouge as safe as we can keep Baton Rouge.”