Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner will face off against former Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan as he vies for a third term in the Democratic primary election on May 20. And while the winner of that contest is not likely to face a Republican challenger in November – no GOP candidates filed to run – most of Krasner's attention has been on campaigning against President Donald Trump's policies.
Since he was first elected in 2017, Krasner has been among the leading DAs in the progressive prosecutor movement that swept across a number of cities during Trump's first term. Krasner challenged conventions in Philadelphia by replacing long-tenured prosecutors and reshaping the mission of the office with goals for criminal justice reform, including reducing the city's prison population and targeting his policies toward the root causes of crime.
When he launched his campaign in February, Krasner said he was running as a defender of democracy for the city who will fight "fundamentally un-American" policies from the Trump administration – including threats to sanctuary cities that support due process for immigrants. Krasner called out "Trump and his billionaire buddies" in his first campaign ad, and he's called for more public officials to speak out against the president.
"This is a MAGA party that is a party of hate and their whole point is, 'Don't challenge me,'" Krasner said during a recent interview with NBC10. "I'm challenging them. This city needs a fighter. This country needs more fighters."
The Krasner campaign declined an interview with PhillyVoice ahead of the Democratic primary. When he last ran for reelection in 2021, Krasner easily won a primary challenge from Carlos Vega, a former prosecutor in the DA's office, and then defeated Republican defense attorney Chuck Peruto by a wide margin in the general election that November.
Krasner's first two terms have been polarizing. He came under intense criticism from Republicans statewide when gun violence surged in Philadelphia – and in cities across the United States – during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Harrisburg, Republicans mounted an unsuccessful impeachment effort that cast Krasner as lenient with criminals and running a DA's office rife with misconduct.
Dugan, a U.S. Army veteran who served on the bench in Municipal Court for 17 years, has echoed many of the Republicans' attacks against Krasner on the campaign trail. He has questioned Krasner's ethics and political ties, called his prosecutors unprepared in court and claimed his office is too preoccupied with reform to prioritize public safety. Dugan also has blamed Krasner for going soft on retail theft, including his since-revised policy that treated shoplifting cases under $500 as summary offenses. Dugan claims the policy led to an exodus of businesses from the city.
A number of Krasner's reform initiatives have led to successes, including the exoneration of dozens of people who were wrongfully convicted and had spent years in prison.
Philadelphia's prison population as a whole has plummeted to its lowest level in years, falling from more than 8,000 people in 2015 to fewer than 3,700 inmates as of April. Homicides and shootings in the city also have dropped sharply since the pandemic, outpacing similar declines in other cities nationwide. Philadelphia improved from a peak of 562 homicides in 2021 to 269 last year, and this year the homicide rate is about 25% lower than it was at the same point last May, according to Philadelphia police data.
Krasner and Dugan have participated in a series of forums and held their first debate last week on WURD radio. The two campaigns had spent weeks fighting over terms to debate in other venues.
During the debate, Krasner accused Dugan of planning to run against him as a write-in Republican if Dugan loses the Democratic primary. Dugan said he would not campaign for the GOP even if Republican voters try to get him onto the ballot in November.
Krasner also criticized Dugan for being politically ambitious, including his unsuccessful run for Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2023, and he said Dugan's critiques of his record as prosecutor amount to "anecdata" reminiscent of Vega's campaign tactics in 2021. The DA said Republicans have been "at war" with him since he took office, but Dugan contended that Krasner's policies are directly responsible for Trump enticing voters and flipping Pennsylvania red in November's presidential election.
Toward the end of the debate, Krasner defended his progressive approach to criminal justice. He said assisting people re-entering society from prison is crucial to address systemic issues that impact public safety. Krasner pointed to his office's partner programs that use money from drug dealers – taken through civil forfeiture – and other grants to pay for job training, housing, mental health services and addiction recovery that give people chances to break cycles of criminal behavior.
"It would be absurd for us not to do everything we can to keep them on the right path," Krasner said.