Black lawyer wins primary for Philly DA

PHILADELPHIA, May 20 (UPI) -- A former assistant prosecutor has a good chance of becoming Philadelphia's first black district attorney after winning the Democratic primary Tuesday.

R. Seth Williams had almost 42 percent of the vote, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Daniel McCaffrey came in second with 30 percent, and three more candidates trailed.

"Seth is going to be the first elected DA of color in a seriously major American city," said J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia NAACP. "It's a historic election."

Williams, 42, who graduated from Penn State and Georgetown Law School after flunking out of West Point, worked for District Attorney Lynne Abraham for more than a decade, leaving in 2003 to go into private practice.

They were close -- Williams called her "Mama Lynne" in his resignation letter. But the relationship soured when Williams ran against her in 2005, giving her the hardest race of her career.