Larry Krasner wins Philly DA primary, beating challenger who eclipsed him in campaign contributions and endorsements

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Incumbent Larry Krasner has likely secured a third term with Tuesday’s win in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia’s district attorney race. He decisively prevailed over his challenger, former municipal judge Pat Dugan.

With no Republican candidate in November’s general election, Krasner’s victory essentially guarantees he will continue at the helm of Philadelphia’s top prosecutorial office.

In his victory speech, Krasner said that the real election started in January 2018, when he assumed office and began a program designed to reduce incarceration levels in the city. He said the city “learned that justice makes us safer.”

“When you believe in the potential of human beings to change or to avoid the crime in the first place, you end up with … the smallest number of homicides in years,” he said. “You end up with 45 innocent people out of jail and you end up with the lowest number of Philadelphians in state prison and the lowest number of Philadelphians in county jail that I have seen since I became a lawyer in 1987.”

Dugan spoke to his supporters as the votes came “trickling in,” saying he believed he ran a good campaign to give Philadelphians a choice.

“We worked tremendously hard for the last five months. I believe we didn’t leave a stone unturned. And the reason why we didn’t is because I believe in the city of Philadelphia. I believe that the city has to be much safer than it has been,” Dugan said. “I care about the city as a lifelong Philadelphian. I want my grandbabies to feel safe. I want the citizens of Philadelphia’s children to feel safe.”

Dugan did not say the race was over, and continued to mingle with his supporters as the results came in.

“The numbers will be coming in, trickling in in the next couple [of] hours, but I feel the vibe on the street. We shall see in a very near future how this turns out. I feel confident that we did everything we possibly could to bring a new vision to the District Attorney’s Office of Philadelphia.”

Dugan may have an opportunity to challenge Krasner again in November. If he gets 1,000 write-in votes certified for his name, he could get a second chance and run as a Republican in the November election. With 86% of the vote tallied late Tuesday night, more than 6,000 Republicans had cast a write-in vote in the Republican primary.

Sources close to the Dugan campaign would not officially comment on whether the former Municipal Court judge would run on the GOP ticket.

Progressive DA remains popular in Philly

Krasner first ran in 2017 as a self-proclaimed progressive reformer, pledging to overhaul the DA’s office after decades of “tough-on-crime” leadership, controversy and scandal. His election win was part of a wave of reformist prosecutors that reflected a shift in public sentiment on issues of crime and punishment.

While progressive DAs haven’t fared as well recently, Krasner’s primary win shows that his approach remains popular among Democrats in Philadelphia.

As district attorney, Krasner has introduced several controversial policies, including dropping prosecutions for marijuana possession, effectively eliminating cash bail for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies and reducing sentence lengths. His office also aggressively prosecuted police for misconduct, as well as kept a record of officers who engaged in that misconduct so they would not be called on as witnesses in criminal cases.

As he launched his 2025 reelection bid, Krasner continued to portray himself as an “outsider” — standing in opposition to entrenched political and institutional interests. During his reelection campaign, he focused as much on President Donald Trump as his opponent.

That seems to have worked with constituents like Keni Thomas, who voted for Krasner earlier in the day. He said he appreciated Krasner standing up to the president.

“I just think that having a district attorney that’s willing to be a heat shield for the people is a good thing,” Thomas said. “And if you’ve got a person that’s gonna fight legally tooth and nail things that seem to go against the Constitution or go against the way we were planning for this country to go, I’m all for that guy.”

Dugan launched his campaign in December 2024, positioning himself as a moderate counterweight to Krasner’s approach. He criticized Krasner’s prosecutorial policies, which he said led to high crime rates.

That earned several significant endorsements from local Democratic committee wards and unions, and he outraised the incumbent by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, a majority of Democratic voters didn’t appear to buy Dugan’s arguments that Krasner was to blame for recent high spikes in crime. Thomas said he believes that COVID was at fault and that he appreciated Krasner’s approach to mass incarceration.

“If you talk about Lynne Abraham and a lot of other past DAs, it was always tough on crime, tough on crime, tough on crime,” he said. Krasner “looked at it in a more logical way. Like, wait a minute, what things are worth being thrown away for? Maybe we put you in a rehabilitation center. Maybe we find a way to mitigate this as opposed to just throwing whole people in prisons that are definitely overpopulated.”

Several members of the Philadelphia City Council appeared at Krasner’s victory party, including Council President Kenyatta Johnson, Rue Landau, Jamie Gauthier, Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke. State Sens. Sharif Street and Nikil Saval were also seen.

Landau called the results “great news.”

“We need four more years of Larry Krasner,” she told WHYY News. “Crime is going down, we are working with our community partners, we’re working with the police. Things will at least maintain the same trajectory if not get even better for Philadelphia.”