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When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term

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pappal

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30 Dec 2025, 09:55

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well IMO both B and C have a missing element :
B-->what is the selection policy of the party to which DA belonged when he joined ? will decide the new selection.
C--> what if the DA changed the affiliation during the chaired time, so the selection policy of the party to which he currently belongs will have no effect on the selection of the new DA.
but the construction of the argument towards the conclusion implicitly directs more towards C than B.
so C

mkeshri185

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Why B is wrong? It clearly says if a member leaves in mid term then a the original party to which she belonged when she took the office will replace with its own member. and then the conclusion is the replaced member is from Federal party. It means we somehow have to show that the mid term leaving member originally belonged to Federal party. she might have changed party in the later period but we are only concerned about the original party. And option B says exactly like what we needed.

MacFauz

Actually, B is not a strong candidate at all.. According to the argument, there is no reason for a party to choose one of its own members as a replacement... The correct answer C is not only the right answer but also provides the reason for B being wrong.

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14 Jan 2026, 17:31

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Bunuel bb
for C should be correct we have to assume that DA is an elected post which has not been mentioned.

miag

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14 Jan 2026, 22:26

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Hi,

The missing link is:
Was the outgoing DA a Federal Party member when she took office?

Option B): This helps, but indirectly.
Why?

The rule says the party chooses the replacement
B does not guarantee the party chooses one of its own
A party could theoretically choose someone from another party

Option C):
This directly guarantees the conclusion.

If:

the DA is an elected official
and her party always chooses a Federal Party member,

then:

Quote:

the replacement must be Federal Party

Hope this helps!

kartickdey

Bunuel bb
for C should be correct we have to assume that DA is an elected post which has not been mentioned.

kartickdey

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15 Jan 2026, 00:30

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Nowhere it is mentioned that DA is an elected post.

miag

Hi,

The missing link is:
Was the outgoing DA a Federal Party member when she took office?

Option B): This helps, but indirectly.
Why?

The rule says the party chooses the replacement
B does not guarantee the party chooses one of its own
A party could theoretically choose someone from another party

Option C):
This directly guarantees the conclusion.

If:

the DA is an elected official
and her party always chooses a Federal Party member,

then:

Hope this helps!

miag

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15 Jan 2026, 23:22

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Hi,

The question does not require you to assume that the DA is an elected post. That fact can be reasonably inferred from the passage itself.
The argument states:

Quote:

"When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term..."

Key phrase: "term."

Hope this helps clarify!

kartickdey

Nowhere it is mentioned that DA is an elected post.

temporeincidunt

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15 Jan 2026, 23:58

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Correct answer: B
Why B is right

The rule says: the party the DA belonged to when she took office chooses the replacement.
The conclusion claims the replacement will be a member of the Federal Party.
This only follows if the DA was a Federal Party member when she took office.
B provides exactly that missing link, making the conclusion logically solid.

Why the others are wrong

A. The DA has not changed her party affiliation

This tells us consistency, but not what her party actually was.
If we don’t know it was Federal, the conclusion still doesn’t follow.

C. The party always chooses a Federal Party member

This is vague and implausible: which party always does this?
It also conflicts with the idea of party-based replacement.

D. Replacement of the attorney general is decided by the state senate

This is about a different office and is irrelevant to the DA’s replacement.

E. The Federal Party plans to choose a close associate

This assumes the Federal Party is already choosing, which is exactly what needs proving.

TGC

When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term for whatever reason, the political party to which the outgoing DA belonged when he or she took office is allowed to choose a replacement. Since our DA will leave in the middle of her term to become the state’s attorney general, her replacement will be a member of the Federal Party.

Which of the following most strengthens the argument above?

A. The outgoing DA has not changed her party affiliation during her time in office.

B. The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office.

C. The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party when replacing elected officials.

D. When the state’s attorney general leaves in the middle of the term, the replacement is decided by the state senate.

E. The Federal Party plans to choose to replace the outgoing district attorney with a close associate of the former DA.

Source: Veritas prep