With crime a top concern in cities nationwide, voters in Allegheny County decided to stick with District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. for a seventh term, rejecting a spirited challenge by former chief public defender Matt Dugan.
The outcome Tuesday augurs for a continuation of Zappala’s administration of criminal justice. He has promised few changes in that approach, though during a debate with Dugan he spoke favorably of a "broken windows" approach to law enforcement — one in which smaller crimes are policed aggressively in hopes of discouraging more serious offenses.
"I think we started a conversation ... about our government and about who we are as a community," Zappala said to a crowd of supporters Tuesday night at Cupka's Cafe II on the South Side. "And certainly people were aware of their government, and they're aware of some of the problems we have and some of the things that need to be done. So I think it was more a referendum on us as a community."
Zappala has also made clear that he will press his dissatisfaction with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, whom he accuses of not policing rigorously enough. He has recently suggested that unless Gainey begins policing streets more zealously, he could seek a consent decree that would put the city Bureau of Police under federal oversight.
Supporters of Gainey called that an effort to “emasculate” the city’s first Black mayor this past weekend, but in a statement, Zappala said that while a consent decree was an extreme solution, he would seek it if “the lack of enforcement of the law rises to that level of concern.”
Gainey himself was sanguine about the outcome, telling reporters later "Congratulations to Steve Zappala," he said. "If it's about coming together to make this the safest city in America, then we can work with anybody."
Dugan, in a speech to supporters at a bar in Carnegie, conceded the race shortly before 11 p.m.
“Losing is hard. I didn’t get into this race to lose this race," Dugan said. "To stand in front of all of you … I’m sorry that we’re here talking under these circumstances, but I’m also proud of the work we’ve done”
Zappala was first appointed as district attorney by local judges to fill a vacancy a quarter-century ago, and he’s been re-elected by voters since 1999, often facing little or token opposition. But he struggled to stave off a challenge from his left by federal public defender Lisa Middleman in 2019. And in the Democratic primary this spring, he was bested by Dugan, then the county’s chief public defender, which represents indigent clients who are being prosecuted by lawyers representing the district attorney.
Zappala did, however, succeed in a concurrent effort to have Republican voters write in his name on the GOP ballot this spring, and he pledged then that “if we stick around until November, we can kick some ass and take some names."
That prediction seemed to have been borne out Tuesday evening.
While the general election was a rematch of the primary, the dynamics were different. Zappala, who by his own admission has never been an enthusiastic campaigner, appeared at GOP political gatherings in the run-up to the general election, and he affiliated himself with the Forward Party, a purportedly centrist movement established by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Zappala also raised well over $700,000 for the fall campaign — money that paid for a series of attack ads and mailers suggesting Dugan would be soft on crime.
Dugan, meanwhile, raised less than a tenth of that on his own account. The vast majority of his campaign activity — more than $1 million worth of mailers and TV spots — was contributed by the Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety PAC, which is financed by financier and criminal justice reform advocate George Soros. That support, from a controversial Democratic donor who backed district attorney candidates in Philadelphia and elsewhere, made its way into Zappala’s talking points.
During the campaign, Dugan promised a number of reforms, which include efforts to shunt lower-level offenders toward “off ramps” that will help them obtain social services such as drug treatment outside the justice system. And he attacked Zappala on concerns about crime and criticism from people who believe the criminal justice system treats defendants, especially those who aren't white, too harshly.
In their lone debate this year, the men tangled over a range of issues, with Zappala suggesting progressive district attorneys “get into office and they destroy a city,” while Dugan said that “until we see change at the top of the district attorney’s office, we’re going to be stuck with … the status quo.”
But in a season where polling data consistently showed crime concerns as a top-of-mind issue for voters — and media reports documented ongoing concerns about homelessness and lawless behavior on the South Side — voters decided to give Zappala another four-year term.
