By a margin of 65 percent to 35 percent, Rosemary Lehmberg defeated her opponent Mindy Montford to win her runoff election for Travis County, Texas district attorney. With no Republican challenger in the fall, Lehmberg becomes the presumptive winner of the post.

The Travis County district attorney is the most powerful prosecutor in the state of Texas, due to the official’s responsibility for prosecuting corrupt state officials through the office’s independent Public Integrity Unit. Lehmberg, who is openly lesbian, held the endorsement of outgoing district attorney Ronnie Earle, who gained national exposure for his prosecution of Tom Delay.

Lehmberg, an endorsee of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, thanked Earle in her remarks to supporters last night. The Austin Statesman-American reports:

Addressing supporters at Joe’s Bar and Grill on Tuesday night, Lehmberg said she would get to work soon on issues that came up during the campaign, including how best to deal with drug offenders and environmental crimes. She thanked supporters, including Earle.

“Ronnie, you’ve been my friend and my mentor, my boss,” she said, looking at Earle and then turning to the crowd. “He gave me the greatest gift of all: He gave me his good name.”

During the campaign, Lehmberg said that, like Earle, she would rarely seek the death penalty.

Lehmberg repeatedly said that she was the best candidate to run the independent public integrity unit, the state-funded arm of the office that investigates those accused of wrongdoing at the Texas Capitol. During the runoff campaign, Lehmberg criticized Montford for taking money from Capitol lobbyists and wealthy businesspeople from outside Austin, saying the donations would cloud her judgment in public integrity unit investigations.