Larry Krasner, a progressive prosecutor who has sought to reshape Philadelphia’s criminal justice system, is poised to serve a third term as district attorney.
Facing a well-funded challenge from former Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan, Krasner received about 64% of the vote in the Democratic primary, according to preliminary city election results updated Wednesday.
Krasner, 64, a Center City resident, is all but guaranteed to be reelected to another four-year term in November’s general election. No Republican candidates filed to run and would be unlikely to prevail anyway, given Democrats’ 7-1 voter registration advantage in Philadelphia.
Since taking office in 2018, Krasner has now been reelected twice, despite facing serious contenders both times and significant opposition from certain segments of his own party. He was impeached three years ago in an effort led by GOP state lawmakers, who were unsuccessful in an attempt to remove him from his post.
“We said, in 2017, that justice makes us safer,” Krasner told supporters at an election night gathering in Center City. “That’s actually how it goes when you try to do things with integrity, when you still accept that science applies in this world, when you believe in the potential for human beings to change or to avoid the crime in the first place.”
Even as he pursued a third term, Krasner saw himself as an outsider.
Though party leaders typically back incumbents, the Democratic City Committee, as it did in 2021, decided not to endorse Krasner or his challenger. The decision was left to individual wards, and support was split, with dozens siding with each candidate.
Dugan received the backing of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, an influential group of construction-related labor unions that helped to power Cherelle Parker in her victorious 2023 mayoral campaign.
His campaign outspent Krasner’s 2-1; however, Krasner noted that his reelection effort received more individual contributions – often of more modest amounts – from within city limits.
“There are these people who think you can buy votes that other people have earned,” he said late Tuesday night. “There are these people who think the way to win a campaign is to lie all the time.”
Dugan, a U.S. Army veteran, resigned from the Municipal Court in December after 17 years on the bench to enter the race. He claimed Philadelphians had “Krasner fatigue” and promised tougher prosecution while embracing diversionary programs for low-level offenders.
“The people who supported me did so because they’re tired of being ignored,” Dugan said in a statement after the results became clear. “They want safer streets, real consequences for gun violence, and a justice system that looks out for small business owners. I hope (Krasner) heard them. I hope he takes that message to heart. Because the future of this city depends on it.”
The Philadelphia GOP encouraged Republicans to write-in Dugan, in the hopes that he would accept the party’s nomination in the general election. Pennsylvania holds closed primaries, meaning only registered Democrats could weigh in on the race.
Dugan, in an interview last week, told Metro that he had no intention of running as a Republican.
Unofficial data from the City Commissioners shows that Krasner won 48 of the city’s 66 geographic political wards. Dugan’s victories were concentrated in the Northeast, where he is from and a traditionally more conservative section of Philadelphia.
Dugan appears to have fared slightly better than Carlos Vega, the longtime prosecutor who challenged Krasner in the 2021 Democratic primary. He earned 33% of the vote share, to Dugan’s 36%.
Turnout was, perhaps unsurprisingly, low. Although not all of the ballots had been counted, as of Wednesday afternoon, under 175,000 city residents voted, or fewer than 17% of all registered voters, according to the City Commissioners.
About 21% turned out for the 2021 Krasner-Vega election, and 65% of voters cast ballots last year’s presidential election.
