Pat Dugan is not the type of person who sits back and watches things happen from afar.
In the aftermath of 9/11, he reenlisted in the U.S. Army, serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan into his mid-40s. Late last year, Dugan hung up his Municipal Court judge’s robe to enter the District Attorney’s race and challenge incumbent Larry Krasner.
“I said, ‘You know what, somebody’s got to step up to take him on. It didn’t appear that other folks were going to take him on,” Dugan said during a recent interview with Metro at the Dining Car in Northeast Philadelphia. “I wasn’t going to give Larry Krasner a freebie. I love this city too much to allow this to continue.”
Democrats, in Tuesday’s primary, will decide between Dugan and Krasner, in a contest that is expected to determine the city’s next top prosecutor. No Republican has filed candidate paperwork and would be unlikely to prevail anyway, given the overwhelming registration advantage Democrats hold among Philadelphia voters.
Dugan says he saw from the bench first-hand the flaws within Krasner’s office. As president judge of the Municipal Court, he frequently met with the DA and other criminal justice partners.
“Larry was nothing more than an obstructionist,” Dugan said. “Larry would drag his feet, because if he didn’t get his way – the way he wanted – then he was not a part of it, and he continues to do that.”
Prosecutors in Krasner’s office are not properly trained; sometimes show up unprepared for court hearings; and do not communicate enough with witnesses and victims, Dugan claims. (Krasner strenuously refutes all three assertions.)
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t know how to run an office,” Dugan added. “We all see it in the courts.”
Dugan contends that Krasner is running against Donald Trump. He likened the progressive prosecutor to far-right Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying both use “divisive politics for people to send them 20 bucks or 100 bucks.”
“The protection from Donald Trump is in the ballot box and in the courts,” he said. “I will stand up to Donald Trump with every inch of my body when it’s appropriate. As the DA, there’s not many opportunities (where) that will occur.”
Not only does Krasner disagree, he believes Dugan is hesitant to criticize Trump because it could alienate his supporters.
“I have never seen a Democrat so embraced by the Republican Party in my entire life as what I’m seeing here,” Krasner told Metro.
The Philadelphia GOP is spending money to encourage registered Republican voters to write-in Dugan, as reported by the Northeast Times. If he gets at least 1,000 votes in the GOP primary, he would have the ability to choose whether to accept the party’s nomination.
Dugan maintains that he is a lifelong Democrat fighting for votes from within his party, though he is grateful for any Republican or third-party voters who switch affiliations to cast their ballot for him.
“As we say in court, it’s so speculative that I have no intent of accepting the Republican nomination,” he told Metro. “I really don’t.”
Dugan, 64, who lives in the Chalfont section of the Northeast, grew up in Frankford and initially signed up for the Army in the 1980s, serving in South Korea and Panama. He later earned a law degree and worked in the office of City Councilmember Rick Mariano, who went on to serve four years in prison on bribery charges.
Gov. Ed Rendell appointed Dugan to the Municipal Court in 2007, and he served as a judge for 17 years. He was the court’s head judge from 2019 until last year.
Krasner opponents, in prior elections, have sought to portray a ‘tough-on-crime’ persona, but Dugan doesn’t embrace that approach. He often discusses his involvement in a series of initiatives aimed at diverting defendants from the court system, such Veterans Court and the Eviction Diversion Program.
“I’m not going to be a heavy-handed prosecutor, as other prosecutors in the past maybe were, or they’re accused of being that way,” Dugan said. “But Larry is, frankly, a non-prosecutor. He talks a good game on progressive restorative justice, but he doesn’t do it.
“If it’s progressive and restorative to let everybody go, then he’s been a success, but that’s not been a success for either the defendants, the victims or the citizens of Philadelphia,” he continued.
His platform calls for reverting back to a geographical strategy, with assistant district attorneys assigned to each of the six police divisions. Such a configuration would allow more connection with the community, Dugan argued.
Krasner said his office previously used a similar system and found it created an unequal work flow. He has since implemented specialized units, such as a team that solely handles homicides and non-fatal shootings throughout the city. The PPD, Krasner noted, has adopted a similar structure with its Shooting Investigation Group.
Dugan is viewed as the clear underdog, facing a candidate who has been among the most visible city leaders since taking office in 2018. However, he has raised nearly $680,000 in donations this year, nearly doubling the contributions to Krasner, according to the city’s campaign finance dashboard.
Endorsements have rolled in from the powerful Philadelphia Building Trades Council, a coalition of construction-related labor unions, and more than two dozen wards, in a race where the city’s Democratic leadership has not endorsed a candidate.
Even though gun violence and most categories of crime are down, people have “Krasner fatigue,” Dugan asserts. He is attempting to expand the tent, bringing in voters from across the city – not just areas like the Northeast, where Krasner has never been particularly popular.
“I feel positive. We have a lot of momentum,” Dugan told Metro. “We’re not conceding a neighborhood. We’re trying to work for every single vote that we could possibly get.”
