Republicans are trying to pull Pat Dugan back into the District Attorney race

Will Pat Dugan who lost to Larry Krasner in the Democratic primary for district attorney actively run as a Republican in the November general referendum It looks like the local GOP would really like him to An online poll texted to specific Philadelphia residents on Wednesday asks the recipients opinions of Dugan Krasner Donald Trump and an incorrectly spelled Charelle Parker It also asks a couple pointed questions about the DA race Would the recipient vote for Pat Dugan a Democrat running on the Republican ticket or Larry Krasner the Democrat And which do they believe is the bulk responsible for Philadelphia s high crime rate and crime obstacle Is it Krasner City Council Republicans who refuse to implement gun control or Democrat policies that refuse to prosecute petty crimes and reduce sentences for other crimes Specific Philadelphia residents received text messages on July linking to a poll by Illuminate Research about the District Attorney race and other leaders Screenshots by Billy Penn As the use of Democrat rather than Democratic suggests the poll was commissioned by the Republican City Committee the Inquirer published 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 Republican committee chair Vince Fenerty described the paper Keeping his options open Dugan came in a distant second place in the May primary with about of votes to for incumbent Krasner who is seeking a third term No Republican ran but the GOP mobilized its members to write in Dugan on their primary ballots He got about votes that way far more than the he needed to become the Republican nominee in the November general polling Krasner is the worst prosecutor in America His primary opponent former Judge Pat Dugan was highly qualified and a man of strong character West Philly Republican ward leader Matt Wolfe wrote in an email newsletter Wednesday We solicited Republicans to write him in and succeeded District Attorney Larry Krasner left and retired Municipal Court judge Patrick Dugan answered yes-or-no questions during a DA balloting forum Philadelphia Sun publisher Catherine Hicks right was one of the moderators March Meir Rinde Billy Penn Fenerty has stated the plan was modeled on the campaign of Allegheny County DA Stephen Zappala who lost the Democratic primary but received nearly GOP write-in votes and went on to win the general polling Other Democrats have used or tried to use similar strategies Former New York Gov Andrew Cuomo lost the current primary for New York City mayor to Zohran Mamdani but is now running on the Fight and Deliver party line for the general ballot Dugan campaign manager Dan Kalai noted in May that the former judge would not run as a Republican but Dugan himself has been less clear about his intentions Right now after the primary Dugan campaign sources stated WHYY News they were considering the GOP s offer for him to run as a Republican Dugan has so far not taken efforts to remove himself as the Republican nominee He and Kalai did not respond to requests for comment Thursday Krasner calls Dugan a Dem-publican In debates and forums before the primary the famously progressive Krasner often attacked Dugan for the promotion he was receiving from Republicans and sought to liken him to Trump The district attorney continued to rail against his opponent when reached for comment Thursday accusing Dugan of giving mealy-mouthed responses when he was previously sought about running as a Republican He s not a Democrat He is a Dem-publican Krasner stated This is a guy with one foot in Donald Trump world and one foot in the center-right Democratic Party who has been dishonest with voters from the beginning He s unqualified he s a sore loser and he s exactly what the Democratic Party does not need the DA reported Krasner and his reformist approach to prosecuting crime have been targets of intense Republican criticism nationally since he first ran for the job in The DA noted that Dugan raised more money and spent more on advertising than he did during the primary campaign due in part to contributions from Republican donors I inevitably figured that there would be something like this because there s too much Elon Musk money out there because there is too much money from billionaires who are very happy with their tax cuts courtesy of Donald Trump the leader of Pat Dugan s new party the Republican Party Krasner disclosed Dugan is apparently still a registered Democrat at this point The former judge s financial advantage evaporated by the time of the primary although Dugan could start up a new fundraising effort in the coming months His campaign had only about cash on hand as of early June according to a campaign finance document whereas Krasner had about The post Republicans are trying to pull Pat Dugan back into the District Attorney race appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY