Is Philly’s DA race over? Republicans are polling whether Democrat Pat Dugan could beat Larry Krasner as the GOP nominee.
Dugan has not commented on whether he may run in the November general election since he won the Republican nomination.
This year’s Philadelphia district attorney race ended in May, when two-term incumbent Larry Krasner walloped former Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan in the Democratic primary.
Or did it?
The Republican City Committee is currently polling Philadelphians about whether they would consider voting for Dugan in the November general election if he appeared on the ballot again — this time as a Republican.
Dugan won the GOP nomination in May without campaigning for it, thanks to a write-in campaign organized by Philly Republicans.
The digital poll, which was texted to a reporter, asks in part: “If the election for Philadelphia District Attorney were held today, for whom would you vote: Larry Krasner, the Democrat; or Pat Dugan, a Democrat running on the Republican ticket?”
No Republican filed to run in the primary, and after things started looking bad for Dugan in the Democratic contest, the Philly GOP succeeded in electing the moderate ex-judge as the Republican nominee. Republicans needed at least 1,000 primary voters to write in Dugan’s name. He ended up receiving more than 6,000 GOP votes.
If Dugan accepts the nomination, he would be able to take another shot at unseating Krasner, the nationally known progressive prosecutor.
“I believe he and his family are still looking at all of their options,” Vince Fenerty, who chairs the Republican City Committee, said in an interview Thursday. “The poll, we hope, will tell us all of Larry Krasner’s vulnerabilities, and we’re still very hopeful that Judge Dugan will remain the Republican candidate for district attorney.”
Dugan has until Aug. 11 to either pay a filing fee to appear on the ballot or withdraw from the race. His campaign manager, Dan Kalai, said before the primary that Dugan would not accept the GOP nomination if he came up short against Krasner in May.
But Dugan has not commented on the issue since he won the Republican nomination. He did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Krasner said Thursday that the former judge has been disingenuous about whether he might run as a Republican throughout the campaign. And in Krasner’s view, Dugan is effectively already running a general election campaign because he has not removed himself from consideration.
“This is not a question of whether he’s running,” Krasner said. “He’s running. He’s the candidate. He’s had every opportunity to take his name off.”
Krasner speculated that Dugan may be hoping to benefit from campaign spending by tech billionaire Elon Musk, the erstwhile ally of President Donald Trump who has targeted progressive prosecutors, or other GOP megadonors.
“We all know there’s Musk money out there,” Krasner said.
If Dugan were to go for round two against Krasner, it would be an uphill battle. He lost the primary by 29 percentage points, and Philly is overwhelmingly Democratic.
But it would not be unprecedented. In fact, the strategy is becoming more common as moderate and establishment-backed Democrats attempt to stop gains by more progressive candidates who won surprising victories in primaries.
In 2021, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown lost his Democratic primary to India Walton, who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, but won reelection through a general election write-in campaign.
In 2023, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala was reelected after losing the Democratic primary to a more progressive challenger — coincidentally named Matthew Dugan (no relation) — and running in the general election as a Republican.
And in this year’s New York City mayoral race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is running in the general election as a third-party candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Zohran Mamdani. (Mayor Eric Adams, who did not run in the primary, is also running in the general election.)
Fenerty has said the Philly GOP is basing its strategy on the Allegheny County race.
“If [Dugan] were to move forward, we believe that he will have a good shot at becoming district attorney,” Fenerty said. “I have great respect for Judge Dugan. He has had unquestionably a stellar career, and I believe he’ll make a very fair district attorney for all of Philadelphia.”
Staff writer Ellie Rushing contributed to this article.