HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) 鈥� Progressive stalwart Larry Krasner has won Philadelphia鈥檚 Democratic primary election Tuesday to continue serving as district attorney for another four years in the heavily Democratic city after withstanding an impeachment attempt and years of criticism by President Donald Trump and other Republicans.
Krasner鈥檚 victory all but guarantees him a as the city鈥檚 top prosecutor, with no Republicans filing to run in November鈥檚 general election.
The longtime civil rights lawyer defeated Pat Dugan, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was the head administrative judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court before he resigned to run.
Krasner originally ran in 2017 on a progressive platform that included opposition to the death penalty, cash bail, prosecuting minor nonviolent offenses and a culture of mass incarceration, as well as holding police accountable.
Krasner survived a attempt by Republican state lawmakers and years of Trump and other Republicans using him as a campaign trail punching bag amid rising crime in Philadelphia and other U.S. cities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The past couple years has seen crime rates falling in Philadelphia 鈥� and elsewhere 鈥� while the city鈥檚 jail population is down by almost half in the past decade.
Like some big-city Democrats, Krasner has turned toward messaging, saying he is serious about pursuing violent crime and touting new technologies and strategies that his office is using to solve or prevent crime.
He also tried to show that he is combating quality-of-life crimes, recently announcing a new unit to prosecute illegal dumping, such as household trash, tires, construction materials and more.
He repeatedly invoked Trump during the campaign and suggested that he is the best candidate to stand up to the president.
Krasner made his campaign slogan 鈥淔鈥�- around and find out,鈥� and invoked it in a TV ad where he cast himself as the foil to 鈥淭rump and his billionaire buddies, the shooting groups and gun lobby, the old system that denied people justice for too long. They can come for Philly, but I鈥檓 not backing down.鈥�
Labor unions were split between Krasner and Dugan during the primary. But Krasner held his base of support among progressives, reformers and influential members of the city鈥檚 Black political establishment.
While some of Krasner鈥檚 fellow progressive prosecutors around the country were forced out of office, Krasner has maintained that the progressive movement remains ascendant and influential, despite setbacks.
Marc Levy, The Associated Press
