For Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, pursuing justice and supporting crime victims isn’t just a job — it’s a passion.
“It's been my life's work,” she said. “I have worked in every bureau in the office. I have been a boss, a supervisor, and I'm very passionate about what we do.”
Donnelly, 61, a Republican and a longtime prosecutor, defeated former State Sen. Todd Kaminsky in 2021 to become district attorney — the fourth consecutive woman to hold the office. A Garden City resident who graduated from Fordham Law School in 1989, she is seeking a second term on a platform of public safety, gang enforcement and law enforcement support.
Since taking office in 2022, Donnelly has created three county law enforcement units. The Firearms Suppression and Intelligence Unit, focuses on illegal gun sales and weapons trafficking.
“We've had an uptick of guns being taken off the street, and I wanted to know why,” she said. The Pharmaceutical Diversion and Cybercrimes Unit targets opioid diversion by medical professionals and prosecutes cybercrimes, including dark web activity. The Hate Crimes Unit is tasked with investigating bias-motivated violence and boosting community outreach, training and reporting.
“There's always going to be crime,” Donnelly said. “The important aspect of maintaining or keeping Nassau safe is to target the crimes that we see increases in.” She has been an outspoken critic of New York state’s bail reform and Clean Slate laws, which she described “problematic,” and argued they allow repeat offenders back onto the streets.
She also raised concerns about the state’s discovery reform law, passed in 2020, which requires prosecutors to quickly share evidence with defense attorneys. Under the law, prosecutors originally had 20 to 35 days after a defendant’s arraignment, depending on pretrial custody, to provide all evidence — with a possible 30-day extension.
“It's not like we're trying to hide anything from them,” Donnelly said. “Getting all the information within the window is the challenge.” A 2025 amendment now allows cases to proceed if prosecutors show “good faith and due diligence” in providing evidence.
On the subject of the 2019 bail reform law, which eliminated cash bail for many non-violent offenses, she pointed to aggravated animal abuse and DWI as examples of “violent and dangerous” offenses that don’t meet the law’s definition of violence.
With nearly 250 attorneys and a staff of more than 450, the Nassau County district attorney’s office is one of the largest in the country.
Donnelly said that her management experience stands in contrast to her challenger in next month’s election, Democrat Nicole Aloise. “She’s a very nice person, but has never managed one person,” Donnelly said. “I don’t think she’s the person for it. I think I am.”
