Let the 2025 election begin.
Philadelphia’s marquee election this year got underway Tuesday in a chilly Northeast Philadelphia parking lot, with longtime Judge Patrick Dugan formally announcing he’s running for district attorney, setting up a likely battle with incumbent Larry Krasner, the city’s progressive top prosecutor.
Dugan, a former municipal court judge who resigned last month, launched his campaign from the headquarters of the politically influential building trades unions. He vowed to make the city safer and said it’s time for the city to oust Krasner after two terms of advancing his criminal-justice reform agenda.
The announcement Tuesday was the opening salvo ahead of the May Democratic primary for district attorney that will likely pit the judge of 18 years against Krasner, who is expected to run for a third termbut has not yet filed paperwork to officially do so. No other Democrat has launched a campaign, and several who were exploring getting in the race are no longer seeking backers, setting up what could be a head-to-head matchup between Dugan and Krasner.
Dugan, a military veteran who unsuccessfully ran for state Superior Court in 2023, said he’s confident he can lead a winning campaign, saying “I’m going to go to every community within the city of Philadelphia and build a coalition.”
Notably, he secured the endorsement of the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, which is credited with playing a major role in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s 2023 election. The group is an umbrella organization of labor unions that includes electricians, plumbers, and more.
In 2021, a handful of individual building trades unions backed Krasner’s Democratic challenger Carlos Vega, a homicide prosecutor who positioned himself as a pragmatic alternative. Several of the unions donated the maximum contribution allowed under city campaign-finance law. One key group — the Laborers District Council that’s led by Ryan Boyer — donated that year to both Vega and Krasner.
Boyer said Tuesday that Dugan is “made for the job,” saying he would not roll back progressive policies but would be a more reliable “partner” to the Police Department. He said a change in leadership at the district attorney’s office matters for his members whose livelihoods depend on growth in the city.