Pennsylvania voters decide today who will run the attorney general’s office, the top legal arm that defends the state in court, tackles political fraud and upholds election laws, among other duties.
Candidates clashed on their experience, with Republican Dave Sunday saying his career as a prosecutor with the York County District Attorney’s Office qualified him most to serve as AG. He pointed out in several public forums that his competitor, Democrat Eugene DePasquale, had never tried a case in front of a jury.
Meanwhile, DePasquale, a former state auditor general and state representative, said running a statewide investigative office will enable him to seamlessly transition in the AG role, if elected. DePasquale also noted that Gov. Josh Shapiro, who also did not have prosecutorial experience, was once attorney general.
While waiting for results with supporters Tuesday night at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers headquarters in the South Side, DePasquale said he was hesitant to make predictions but hopeful for the results of the day's balloting, noting "It's a big state."
In two televised debates, the candidates shared differing views on gun control, abortion, the death penalty, cash bail reform and legalizing recreational marijuana. But on other topics, such as holding social media companies accountable and prioritizing youth mental health, the candidates’ positions are not far apart. Four minor-party candidates were eager to point out those similarities, but they didn’t participate in debates.
Sunday was elected as York County’s District Attorney in 2017 and previously served as a deputy prosecutor and special assistant to federal prosecutors. He painted himself as tough on crime, but compassionate when prosecuting people in the throes of addiction or mental health crises. He touted a York County prison reentry program, saying he’d expand it throughout the state.
“Only one person standing here has ever conducted a criminal investigation,” Sunday said in the candidates’ first debate. “The attorney general is Pennsylvania's top law enforcement officer that oversees hundreds of prosecutors that conduct criminal investigations.”
When speaking with WESA, legal experts and political observers painted a slightly different picture of the office’s often-nicknamed role as the state’s “top cop,” which differs from state to state. Even sitting Vice President and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has used the moniker to refer to her past as California’s attorney general.
DePasquale was a House member elected from a York County district and served two terms as state auditor general. He now serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
In debates, he aligned himself with progressives on such issues as protecting abortion rights and toughening gun control measures, including universal background checks and red-flag laws. The latter, sometimes known as “extreme-risk protection orders,” would allow a judge to take away a gun from someone deemed at risk of violence — “through a judicial process that temporarily, I want to repeat, temporarily restricts someone's access to firearms when they are a danger to themselves and their community,” DePasquale said in the second debate.
Republican lawmakers and Second Amendment advocates have opposed gun control legislation in Pennsylvania. The Gun Owners of America Pennsylvania, along with the state Fraternal Order of Police and the State Troopers Association, have backed Sunday. A state corrections officers union and a Teamsters law enforcement group have supported DePasquale’s campaign.
DePasquale won a five-way Democratic primary against a former chief public defender, a district attorney, a former federal prosecutor and a member of the state House of Representatives. Sunday beat a Chester County state lawmaker in the Republican primary. Four third-party candidates — from the Libertarian, Forward, Constitution and Green parties — also appeared on the ballot Tuesday.
The two major-party campaigns drew a combined $16.7 million in TV ads, with a late Republican blitz outspending Democrats by more than $10 million.
Sunday’s campaign saw a large financial advantage, thanks to a cash injection of millions from Republican billionaire Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest resident. Speaking to Spotlight PA, a Democratic political consultant credited outside spending on Sunday to his lower profile, calling him “a relative unknown” as a county district attorney. By comparison,DePasquale was a state representative and auditor general.
" ...We were just trying to be much more targeted [in] how we spent our money," DePasquale said Tuesday night. " ... We knew from the beginning we were going to be outspent dramatically. So ... we think we were as targeted as you could be, making sure that we got the information [to] the voters. We needed to get it to you."
Prior to 1980, Pennsylvania’s governor appointed the state attorney general — some states still use this process to this day. Republicans won every AG election between 1980 and 2012, but Democrats can boast they’ve held the office ever since. (The closest Republicans have gotten came when Shapiro appointed Republican District Attorney Michelle Henry of Bucks County, who later became a Democrat, after he was elected governor.)
