With three weeks to go until Election Day and nearly 30,000 mail ballots already cast, District Attorney candidate Pat Dugan pleaded with voters Tuesday to “Get off your butts and vote” as he attempts to achieve an upset win over incumbent DA Larry Krasner.
Dugan is a registered Democrat, but is running as the Republican nominee after losing the primary to Krasner in May. At a press conference outside City Hall, he cast himself as a nonpartisan candidate looking for voters to set aside their party affiliations — and their confusion about his — and support him for the good of the city.
“ ‘You’re a Republican? Now I’m not going to vote for you. Wait, you’re a Democrat? I’m not going to vote for you,’ ” he said, describing comments he’s heard from voters. “I say hogwash to all those people who wear their jerseys 24-7, their political jerseys. That’s not what this is about. This is bigger. This race for District Attorney is bigger than the left, the right, the red, the blue.”
Dugan touted an endorsement from David Oh, the Republican mayoral nominee in 2023 and a former At-Large councilmember. He was also endorsed by the PA Forward Party, a three-year-old group that describes itself as standing for “nonpartisan leadership and a commitment to fairness,” according to party representative Robert Grabel.
“He’s focused on doing the job, not on political labels,” Grabel said. “Legislators should legislate. Sheriffs should protect their communities. Prosecutors should uphold justice, not act as defense attorneys or political operatives. Pat Dugan gets that, and that’s why we’re standing with him.”
Dugan also repeated the criticisms of Krasner he has made throughout the campaign, accusing him of allowing accused people to be released and to commit more crimes, of failing to crack down on retail theft, and of not cooperating with other officials in anti-crime strategizing.
Krasner declined to comment.
A quiet campaign
Dugan, a retired municipal judge, lost the May Democratic primary to Krasner by a 29-point margin, or almost 44,000 votes.
There were no Republican candidates, but Republicans eager to unseat Krasner organized a write-in campaign for Dugan and gave him about 7,000 votes, more than enough to make him their nominee.
After initially hedging, Dugan accepted the nomination, provoking angry condemnation from Krasner and other Democrats who accused him of lying when he previously said he would not run as the Republican nominee.
In the past, the local Democratic party leadership has repeatedly declined to endorse the outspokenly progressive Krasner, but in August party chair Bob Brady said, “I will do everything in my power to re-elect our Democratic nominee, Larry Krasner.”
The race has been fairly quiet since then. Dugan posts a steady stream of videos on social media attacking Krasner and has held some fundraisers, but the DA has not visibly campaigned at all and it’s not clear if he has any campaign staff.
In mid-September, Dugan’s campaign reported having only about $32,000 in the bank and having raised $27,000 in contributions since early June. Krasner had $60,000 cash on hand and had recently raised $55,000.
That’s a far cry from the more than $1.4 million they collectively pulled in before the primary.
In addition, three unusually contentious state Supreme Court retention races have garnered substantial attention while the DA contest has gotten minimal press coverage over the past few months. While the two men participated in a debate and several forums during the primary campaign, no such meetings have been held, or even scheduled, since then.
An anti-party party
Grabel said the PA Forward Party is building up its infrastructure and helping Dugan, but did not specify how. Dugan’s campaign has not reported any contributions from the party and state campaign finance records do not show that it has contributed to any candidates.
Across the state, the party has endorsed three Democratic and three Republican candidates for various positions, Grabel said. They include Bucks County Democrat Danny Ceisler in his challenge to Republican incumbent Sheriff Fred Harran, and Delaware County Republican Tommy Feldman for county controller over Democrat Louis Rosenthal.
In Adams County, the party endorsed judicial candidate Paul Royer, a Republican who won the Democratic primary through write-in votes, and it supports litigation attempting to institute open primaries in Pennsylvania, in which any voter could vote in primaries regardless of party affiliation, Grabel said.
“We’re proud of candidates who bridge divides and earn support across party lines. High-profile, high-profile races like this shouldn’t be decided by closed primaries,” he said. “Every voter deserves a voice regardless of registration.”
Dugan said he hoped the Forward Party endorsement would underline his effort to appeal to voters across party lines.
He argued that many residents of both major parties agree with him that Krasner has been soft on crime — including some elected Democrats who won’t admit publicly that they’re voting for him — but that he needs more of them to overcome their apathy and get to the polls on Election Day.
Only 16.6% of those who registered went on to vote in the May primary, he pointed out.
“Do the math real quick. 83.39% stayed home. Nobody votes in this city. Get off your couch and vote, folks. That’s the only way you’re going to make a change in this city, is let your voice be heard,” he said. “I need you, the people sitting out there on the couch, to stop complaining and vote.”
Interest in the state Supreme Court retention races could boost voter turnout for the Nov. 4 general election, but it’s unclear by how much.
In the last DA contest in 2021, turnout inched up only slightly between the primary and general, from a little over 21% to not quite 22%, a difference of some 5,400 voters. Somewhat similarly to this year, the election four years ago included a contested state Supreme Court race, which drove get-out-the-vote efforts.
However, Dugan will have to do substantially better than he did in the primary to win. For example, if both he and Krasner get all the same votes, he would then need roughly another 38,000 to come out on top.
About 177,000 people voted in this year’s May primary, while 230,000 voted in the November 2021 general election when Krasner was last reelected.
As of Monday, the city’s Board of Elections had received 28,919 mail ballots for next month’s election, including some flawed ballots that need to be fixed before they can be counted, a spokesperson said.
