Krasner, a former civil rights lawyer, was leading Dugan, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and the former head administrative judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, with 63 percent of the vote as of late Tuesday, results showed.
The win effectively ensures victory for Krasner in November’s general elections, as no Republican candidate has announced plans to run for the office.
As an attorney, he has defended protesters at the 2000 Republican National Convention and 2016 Democratic National Convention, as well as members of Black Lives Matter, DACA Dreamers, Occupy Philly and Reclaim Philadelphia, and advocates of public school funding, as well as opponents of the death penalty.
In his campaign in 2017, Krasner ran on a progressive platform opposing the death penalty, cash bail, prosecuting minor nonviolent offenses and the culture of mass incarceration.
Krasner’s Campaign Promises
In campaigning for a third term in office, Krasner had vowed to end overly punitive sentences and cash bail, stop wrongful convictions, reduce what he described as racial disparities throughout the justice system, and increase justice for juveniles.Additionally, he had pledged to ensure that all immigrants are treated equally, amid a Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration, and said he would push for public health solutions to gun violence.
He had also vowed to restructure the DA’s office into six divisions, with each one to be focused on a specific region of the city that would be led by a senior prosecutor responsible for justice in their area. Under that plan, senior prosecutors would have been held accountable for criminal justice outcomes in their divisions.
His victory, he said, was the result of lots of small-dollar donations and his willingness to defend democracy.
“There are these people who think you can buy votes that other people have earned,” Krasner told the crowd. “There are these people that think the way to win campaigns is to lie, all the time; is to ignore the truth and ignore reality; is to whip up fear; is to turn people on each other, instead of getting them to turn to each other.”
“Although we came up short on Election Day, I’m proud of what we accomplished, and while I may not be the next district attorney, I will never stop fighting for the values we carried through this campaign,” he said. “And to Larry Krasner, I offer my congratulations.”
“For the sake of our neighborhoods, our families, and the soul of this city—I truly hope he succeeds,” Krasner added.