A week ago, 34.31 percent of St. John the Baptist Parish voters who participated on Election Day selected Bridget Dinvaut as their choice for parish District Attorney.

The showing came from 5,213 votes, and it is with that mandate Dinvaut will take control of the D.A.’s office this January.

It’s not how she or anyone else envisioned it, but incumbent and top vote getter Tom Daley was struck by a reemergence of his cancer late last week, announcing just days after Nov. 4’s election that he was stepping down. He will finish out his term. His election withdrawal, made official Monday, brings campaigning to an end, which would have seen Daley and Dinvaut go head-to-head Dec. 6 in a runoff election.

In the run-up to Election Day, Dinvaut repeatedly said, if elected, she would focus her office’s resources on the “aggressive prosecution of violent and repeat offenders.”

It’s a message she doesn’t have to sell anymore.

Dinvaut said pretrial diversion is warranted in certain cases, especially a program that could be focused on young offenders who are “occasional offenders.”

During a pre-election candidate forum, when answering if she thought St. John Parish incarcerated too many, too few or the correct amount of people, Dinvaut answered, “St. John sends criminals to jail. If you’re not a criminal, you’re not going to jail.”

She said the D.A.’s Office needs to “take an aggressive approach” to prosecution, as crime and arrest rates have increased.

The time for talk and promises is over. Daley’s news last week allows Dinvaut to concentrate on the job she has long sought.

It didn’t come in the way many would have thought, but it doesn’t have to be a hindrance to success.

In the wake of Daley’s sobering medical news, St. John Parish needs a strong leader. Dinvaut has campaigned, saying she is that person. She is now in a position to show us.