Patrick Swanson, left, and Jason Schmidt.

Chautauqua County will soon have a new district attorney.

According to unofficial results by the county Board of Elections, Jason Schmidt pulled in more than 63% of the countywide vote over incumbent District Attorney Patrick Swanson, who received about 36%. Even with outstanding absentee ballots to be counted next week, Schmidt received more than enough votes — 29,925 to Swanson’s 17,122 — as of press time to clinch the race.

Swanson called Schmidt after 10 p.m. to concede.

“It’s very disappointing,” Swanson said, later adding, “We dealt with some very difficult cases, and unfortunately the funding from the legislature wasn’t there and we were dealing with a judge who was learning his way. I hope the people know we did the best we thought we could.”

In 2016, Swanson — then the interim district attorney following the departure of David Foley — defeated Schmidt by securing about 56% of the vote countywide. The re-match between the two attorneys had been one of the more hotly contested races in the county this year.

In a series of debates leading up to the election, Schmidt routinely criticized Swanson — specifically for his conviction rate and his handling of a series of high-profile cases.

“Chautauqua County is at the very lowest end. It’s not above the average,” Schmidt said.

Swanson has insisted that Schmidt’s statistics are inaccurate.

“If you look at the last four years in New York state, our convictions on felonies is 21% and the state average is 20(%),” he said. “We are higher than the state average. We’re doing better than everyone else.”

Schmidt previously worked for the District Attorney’s Office before becoming a criminal defense attorney.

Swanson has repeatedly defended his record while leading the office.

“You can compare our statistics in our office to any county in the state and what you’re going to see is that we’re doing as good or better than everybody in the state’s 62 counties,” he said.

Swanson also said Chautauqua County has the highest caseload in the state, about 287 cases per prosecutor.

Schmidt believes Swanson spends too much time outside Chautauqua County working with the state District Attorney’s Association.

“It’s really very simple; let’s achieve some success here,” he said.

Swanson, however, said he believes it’s important for the district attorney to lobby on both the county and the state levels.

“You have an obligation in this position to advocate for the office, which is what I do when I ask for staff, to advocate for criminal justice changes, because that’s your job,” he said. “Yes, you have to handle cases in Chautauqua County too, and I do that. I handle all the homicides.”