Philadelphia will likely decide its next district attorney this week. Here’s what you need to know.

Democratic voters will decide Tuesday whether District Attorney Larry Krasner deserves a third term or whether his primary challenger, former Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan, should be Philadelphia’s next top prosecutor.

The district attorney race is the most high-profile contest on the primary ballot in Philadelphia on Tuesday, and it will likely be decisive because no Republican has filed to run.

» READ MORE: Let’s chat about the district attorney’s race

A former criminal defense attorney, Krasner notched a surprise victory in 2017 that made him a national figure in the progressive prosecutor movement. The challenge from Dugan, an Army veteran seen as a tough-on-crime alternative to Krasner, represents the latest test of whether Philadelphians support the incumbent‘s vision for criminal justice reform.

Here’s what you need to know about the Democratic primary for district attorney.

Krasner has won endorsements from progressive groups including the Working Families Party, OnePA, and PhillyNOW, the local chapter of the National Organization for Women. He is also backed by the unions for Philadelphia public school teachers and non-uniformed city workers.

» READ MORE: DA Larry Krasner says Philly is ‘safer and freer’ as he seeks a third term. Will voters buy in?

“Larry Krasner has a proven track record of standing up to bullies from Donald Trump to the gun lobby to shooting groups, and has made our city safer with law enforcement partners,” Krasner spokesperson Anthony Campisi said. “We‘re running to continue delivering on those promises.”

Among Democratic elected officials, he has secured the endorsements of almost all local politicians aligned with Philly’s progressive movement as well as those of some establishment figures, such as U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, State Sens. Vincent Hughes and Anthony Williams, and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson — all of whom are major players in Philadelphia’s Black political circles.

» READ MORE: DA Larry Krasner has the support of some of Philly’s top Black Democrats, despite the snub from his party

Both Krasner and Dugan are white, and the incumbent‘s consistent support from powerful Black elected officials is a primary reason many political observers believe he is favored to come out on top Tuesday.

The Democratic City Committee declined to endorse a candidate in the race. The party almost always backs its own incumbents, but it snubbed Krasner’s bid for reelection for the second time, a reflection of the tension between the Democratic establishment and the party’s progressive wing.

That forced the candidates to court individual ward leaders across the city for their endorsements and election day promotion, and Krasner’s campaign lists 32 Democratic wards in its corner.

Dugan’s most important supporters by far are the deep-pocketed unions in the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, almost all of which have backed the former judge.

Those unions not only helped Dugan’s campaign dominate the fundraising race against Krasner’s team, but also were major funders of an outside spending group, or super PAC, that aired ads late in the race attacking the incumbent.

» READ MORE: DA Larry Krasner has a fundraising advantage among Philly residents. Challenger Patrick Dugan is dominating the suburbs.

Dugan also won endorsements from City Councilmember Mike Driscoll, State Sen. Tina Tartaglione, and five state representatives. All but one of the elected officials backing Dugan represent parts of Northeast Philadelphia, a more conservative-leaning sector of the deep-blue city and Dugan’s base.

“We deserve a DA who will deliver compassionate reform, respect victims, and keep our communities safe by holding criminals accountable,” Dugan said in a statement. “Under DA Larry Krasner, we endured historically high rates of homicides, gunshot victims, case withdrawals, retail thefts, carjackings and the lowest gun conviction rate in decades.”

» READ MORE: Patrick Dugan wants to cap his military and judicial career by becoming Philly’s top prosecutor. Can he win?

The union for Philadelphia firefighters also backed Dugan. But in a surprise move, the city’s police union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, declined to endorse either candidate after vocally backing Krasner’s challenger in 2021.

As of Friday, Dugan’s campaign website listed 27 wards as endorsing him. It once listed as many as 32 wards, but Dugan removed several after ward leaders told The Inquirer they had not actually endorsed him.

The Philadelphia Republican Party has organized a write-in campaign that could allow Dugan to run against Krasner in November as the GOP nominee if he comes up short in the primary. But Dugan has committed to declining the Republican nomination.

There appears to be no love lost between the candidates. Although the race has not generated a high level of public interest and as an off-year primary election is expected to garner a low turnout, it has had several heated moments.

Dugan and Krasner sparred in a handful of contentious debates and public forums. One confrontation saw Dugan tell Krasner to keep the former judge‘s wife’s name out of his mouth. They even had a contentious debate over debates — a saga that ended without the candidates agreeing to share the stage for a single televised showdown. (The two did participate, remotely, in a radio debate on WURD this month.)

The comment about Dugan’s wife was sparked by Krasner’s criticism of Dugan for, while he was a judge, acquitting Philadelphia Police Lt. Jonathan Josey after Josey was charged with assault for hitting a woman at the city’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in an incident that was caught on video.

Dugan faced calls to recuse himself from the case because his wife, Nancy Farrell Dugan, was on the police force. Krasner noted that she was reportedly present in Dugan’s courtroom during the Josey trial, which he described as a case “that was decided by this judge with his wife, a police officer, in the room.”

“Don’t put my wife‘s name in your mouth, young man,” Dugan said.

“Don’t put her in your courtroom when you’re deciding a cop’s innocence,” Krasner responded.

As expected, the election has largely shaped up to be a referendum on Krasner, a nearly inevitable dynamic given the incumbent‘s national profile and the polarized views on his tenure.

Many of the candidates’ interactions have been debates about the effectiveness of Krasner’s policies. Even a Dugan TV ad introducing him to voters with biographical details brands him as “the real reformer” — an apparent attempt to undermine Krasner’s profile as a champion of criminal justice reform.

Broader trends may have made the task of persuading Philadelphians they need a new district attorney more difficult for Dugan.

In 2021, when Philadelphia was reeling from a record-setting period of shootings and homicides amid the coronavirus pandemic, former prosecutor Carlos Vega challenged Krasner in the Democratic primary in part by trying to tie the incumbent to the wave of violence. Vega lost by 33 percentage points.

This year’s election comes amid a precipitous decline in homicides. Both Philadelphia’s crime spike and its decline aligned largely with national trends. But this year’s circumstances could serve to deflate the potency of attacks trying to link Krasner’s policies to decreased public safety.