Let the 2025 elections begin.
This year’s Philadelphia election kicked off Tuesday in a chilly parking lot in Northeast Philadelphia, with longtime judge Patrick Dugan officially announcing he will run for district attorney, setting up a likely feud with incumbent Larry Krasner, the city’s progressive top prosecutor.
Dugan, a former municipal court judge who resigned last month, launched his campaign at the headquarters of politically influential construction unions. He promised to make the city safer and said it was time for the city to remove Krasner after two terms of implementing his criminal justice reform agenda.
Tuesday’s announcement was the opening salvo before the May Democratic primary for district attorney, which will likely pit the 18-year judge against Krasner, who is seeking a third term but has not yet filed the formal paperwork to do so. No other Democrat has launched a campaign, and several who had considered entering the race are no longer looking for supporters, setting up what could be a head-to-head matchup between Dugan and Krasner.
Dugan described himself as “tough but fair.” He said he would continue some reformist approaches to law enforcement, such as diversion programs that aim to keep nonviolent criminals out of the system.
However, he was critical of Krasner’s program, especially the district attorney’s past policy of issuing summary sentences to people accused of stealing goods worth less than $500.
“I had a front row seat to some policies that just didn’t make sense to me,” Dugan said, “and I couldn’t take it anymore.”
The race comes amid falling rates of violent crime. Philadelphia saw a spike in its homicide rate and a surge in gun violence during the pandemic, but like other major U.S. cities, the trend has since abated — last year, Philadelphia saw its largest annual decline in homicides in at least 50 years.
Dugan argued that the collapse “has nothing to do with.” [Krasner’s] politics.”
Krasner is one of the nation’s most high-profile progressive prosecutors and has faced years of criticism for his reform agenda, including a 2022 impeachment campaign in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
He declined to comment on Dugan’s candidacy, saying only: “I wish anyone who wants to run for AD a fair fight and a fair election, and I hope there will be a strong exchange of views on public safety.” Krasner also declined to say when he would announce his re-election campaign.
Dugan, a military veteran who ran unsuccessfully for the state Supreme Court in 2023, said he was confident he could run a winning campaign, saying, “I’m going to go to every community in Philadelphia and build a coalition.”
In particular, he secured the support of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, which is credited with playing a major role in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s election in 2023. The group is an umbrella organization of labor unions that includes electricians, plumbers and more.
In 2021, a handful of individual construction unions backed Krasner’s Democratic challenger, Carlos Vega, a homicide prosecutor who presented himself as a pragmatic alternative. Several unions contributed the maximum amount allowed under municipal campaign finance law. One key group — the Workers’ District Council, led by Ryan Boyer — has donated to both Vega and Krasner this year.
Boyer said Tuesday that Dugan was “born for this job,” saying he wouldn’t retreat from progressive politics but would be a more reliable “partner” for the Police Department. He said the leadership change at the district attorney’s office is vital for its members, whose livelihoods depend on the city’s development.
“We build buildings to live. People come where it’s unthreatening,” he said. “Development depends on security.”
Mark Lynch, head of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, added: “If we care about the future of this city, we will put people behind bars who commit legal crimes.”
In previous races, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the city’s police union, played a major role. This was especially true when the FOP was led by former president John McNesby, who had a public feud with Krasner for years. However, the FOP has new leadership – whom Krasner praised – and the union has not endorsed any candidate yet this year.
Krasner, a longtime defense attorney and civil rights activist who has spent much of his career criticizing police and prosecutors, won his first bid for district attorney in 2017, defeating a crowded field of Democrats seeking the nomination. The primary winner is the clear favorite in any citywide election in Philadelphia, where registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans.
His victory that year was a watershed moment for the city’s progressive movement, and he won the endorsement of the Northwest Coalition, an influential group of Black elected officials to which Parker belongs. That year, Krasner also received support from a political action committee linked to billionaire George Soros, which spent $1.7 million on the race.
Four years later, Krasner – with much less financial support from Soros – expanded his coalition to win re-election. He defeated Vega in the primaries by 30 percentage points.
