Djuna Perkins won the seven-candidate Democratic primary for Norfolk County district attorney. Brookline's strong support provided much of her margin of victory.

Perkins claimed 28,067 votes countywide, or 29%, over nearest rival Adam Deitch's 25,473 votes, or 26.3%, with 97% of precincts reporting, the Boston Herald reported. Deitch, a former federal prosecutor, conceded around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2. The Associated Press called the race later that morning, according to the Boston Globe.

Brookline was Perkins' strongest community. She captured 3,924 votes there, about 44% of the 8,964 ballots cast across the town's 28 precincts, according to the MetroWest Daily News. Deitch finished second in Brookline with 2,211 votes, or 25%. That gap of roughly 1,700 votes in Brookline alone accounts for a significant share of Perkins' approximately 2,600-vote lead countywide.

Progressive Brookline, which endorsed Perkins, said its grassroots operation texted thousands of Brookline voters and generated more than 500 vote-by-mail ballot requests. In a Friday, Sept. 4 statement, the group described Brookline as a progressive power center for Norfolk County.

The town's support did not come out of nowhere. Select Board Chair David Pearlman and member Bernard Greene, the only two attorneys on Brookline's five-member board, endorsed Perkins before the primary. "Early on in the process, she reached out to Brookline residents and officials and presented herself and what her plans were with respect to the DA's office … No one else did," Greene said in a June interview with Brookline.News, when the endorsements were announced.

Perkins began her legal career in 1993 as an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts and later served five years in the Suffolk County district attorney's office, leaving in December 2002 as chief of the domestic violence unit. She launched her campaign in 2024, becoming the first candidate to challenge then-incumbent DA Michael Morrissey, who announced in January 2026 that he would not seek reelection after serving since 2010.

If elected, Perkins has pledged to request the reassignment of all Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the DA's office and require all approximately 130 staff members to reapply for their positions.

Perkins will face independent Joe Pagliarulo in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election. There is no Republican candidate.