A headshot of Judge Patrick Dugan that was used for his campaign. Credit: Facebook (Judge Pat Dugan for District Attorney)
Back in May, incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner secured the Democratic nomination for the upcoming general election. Krasner, an outspoken progressive, beat challenger Patrick Dugan, a moderate former municipal judge, by more than 40,000 votes.
Yet, thanks to a write-in campaign organized by the Philadelphia Republican City Committee and done through an independent expenditure not affiliated with the Dugan campaign, Dugan could be back on the ticket. This time, for the other side of the aisle – if he accepts the nomination.
As a long-standing Democrat, Dugan has said numerous times that he would decline the GOP nomination if he received it. Although, as the August 11 deadline for Dugan to drop out of the race creeps closer, Philadelphia Republican Party chair Vince Fenerty said the party is “cautiously optimistic Judge Dugan will accept the nomination."
In order to become the Republican nominee, Dugan needed 1,000 Republican voters to write his name on the ballot. According to a report from the Philadelphia City Commissioners, 6,167 voters wrote his name accurately. These votes came from all over Philadelphia, but most were concentrated in Northeast and South Philly, the city’s typical red strongholds.
The Republicans believe that an additional 500-600 votes were written in with misspellings of Dugan's name or weren't completely discernible, and thus weren't counted.
In a city with a population of over 1.5 million residents, Dugan’s write-in votes seem like a minuscule fraction. However, primary elections typically see low turnout: this election saw 16.61% of registered voters cast ballots.
Wrangling a coalition of Republicans, centrist Democrats, and Independents (who are unable to vote in Philadelphia’s closed primary elections), Dugan supporters hope that he could challenge Krasner come November.
“We’re hoping the people of Philadelphia will come out in November and vote for Judge Dugan if he is the candidate,” said Fenerty. “It is time that Philadelphia gets a new, responsible, and fair district attorney. It’s time to fire Larry Krasner.”
Krasner has made national headlines as a leading figure of the progressive prosecutor movement, which favors reform in the criminal justice system. On his platform, he prioritizes seeking alternatives to incarceration and avoiding the death penalty. Krasner has been a vocal opponent of President Trump, calling him a “wannabe fascist” in 2020 and challenging his more recent immigration crackdown.
Though both candidates are Democrats, Republicans favor Dugan because of his tougher-on-crime approach. Dugan has criticized Krasner’s policies on low-level crime, such as retail theft, which has persisted at a high rate.
Krasner touts the largest improvement in homicides in Philadelphia’s history during his tenure, from 410 in 2023 to 269 last year, resulting in a 34% decrease. But Republicans argue that this drop occurred after a record high in 2021, and prefer to see Dugan take the helm.
Dugan’s team have made no announcements to change his previous stance regarding the GOP nomination. Efforts to reach both Dugan and Krasner's teams went unanswered.
Fenerty said that the Philly GOP is observing the results and taking the time to reevaluate before deciding on a plan forward, assuming Dugan is on board. That plan would have to determine if they could close the gap enough to get Dugan across the finish line.
The first step would be fundraising to see if there is an appetite among donors to make a push for Dugan to pull off this unusual – but not unprecedented – upset.
In 2023, Stephen Zappala, the incumbent Democrat District Attorney in Allegheny County, which includes the city of Pittsburgh, lost his primary election on the Democratic ticket to chief public defender Matt Dugan (no relation to Pat Dugan).
Zappala was able to garner enough write-in votes on Republican primary ballots to earn the GOP's nomination, which Zappala accepted.
He later went on to defeat Matt Dugan in the November general election and maintained his seat.
In Philadelphia, Republicans would need strong voter turnout from registered Republicans. Additionally, they would need the Democrats who supported Pat Dugan in the primary to come out and support him again in the general election.
Perhaps most critically, they would need Independents who vote in the general to be more supportive of a tough-on-crime D.A. and not one with a more progressive lean, like Krasner.
There's a belief that the inroads can be made in Philadelphia's river wards – Fishtown, Kensington, Port Richmond, Harrowgate and Bridesburg – but that Dugan would have to make a stronger push to appeal to neighborhoods in North, West and Southwest Philadelphia, which have been strongholds for Krasner in his eight years in office.
The strategy might be to compare Dugan to previous Democrat D.A.s Seth Williams and Lynne Abraham, who were successful in those neighborhoods on Election Day.
