Reminder: There’s a D.A.’s Race

This is how local elections in Philadelphia usually go:

For about five months in the winter and spring, Democratic candidates campaign for votes from Democrats, leading up to the primary election in April or May. Some small number of voters cast a ballot. And … that’s pretty much it.

The Dems who win in the primary are the presumptive electeds — even in high-profile years like 2023, when we elected a new mayor. Republicans, if they manage to field a candidate, have little hope of overcoming the Democrats’ 7:1 advantage. And voters? They basically don’t vote — because why should they if there is no real choice?

This is the case all across America: Of the 500,000 elected officials, some 70 percent run unopposed in their reelection. In Philadelphia, it’s what we get for being mostly a one-party town, whose only competition of late has been from the even more progressive Working Families Party, which elected two City Councilmembers in 2023 (Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke), but which only has a couple dozen members.

This year, though, District Attorney candidate Pat Dugan, former President Judge of Municipal Court, is upending the usual way elections go in Philadelphia. As you may recall, while Dugan lost the Democratic primary to incumbent Larry Krasner in May, he did “win” the Republican primary as a write-in candidate for some 6,000 voters whose party didn’t even bother to run a competitor. In late summer, Dugan agreed to have his name on the ballot under the Republican label. (Although he has been careful not to call himself a Republican.)

And now, Dugan has earned the endorsement of the Forward Party, the national movement launched by former presidential and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang and former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman in 2022. The Forward Party is still nascent and mostly volunteer-driven, but its slogan — Not Left. Not Right. FORWARD. — speaks to a need in American politics for a party that is less extreme, less yell-y and more problem-solving. In Pennsylvania, it may also appeal to the largest growing group of voters — those who are independent.

The Forward Party is not new to Pennsylvania politics. In 2024, it ran Attorney General candidate Eric Settle; he lost the election to Republican David Sunday. In Pittsburgh, Forward endorsed longtime Allegheny County District Attorney Steven Zappala after he lost his Democratic primary in 2023 and decided to run in the general as a “Forward Republican.” Zappala went on to win that race.

Forward’s endorsement of Dugan last week had at least one positive effect: It thrust the election back into the public eye and reminded voters they do have a choice in November. To find out more about what a Forward Party endorsement might mean for Dugan — and Philadelphia — I checked in with local Forward Party volunteer and spokesman Robert Grabel. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What does the Forward Party look for in candidates to endorse?

We look at every candidate and make a call based on whether they fall within what we’re looking for, such as: Are they respectful of the rule of law? Are they building from the bottom up more than top down? Are they a person that’s really going to represent our perspective on the future of politics?

It’s not that we look at the Democrats and Republicans and say, you’re bad, you’re bad or you’re good, you’re good. It’s more of trying to find the best solutions from wherever they come from. So if Republicans have great solutions or Democrats have great solutions, we want to use them and take them to the fore. And if there’s a great candidate, we look at the candidate’s qualities and ask: Is this someone that will serve the people in the best way possible, regardless of the label?

That is a really important thing right now. If you look at both the national level and in Pennsylvania, there’s relative dysfunctionality in both of them. That’s why we don’t have a budget passed at the national level. And that’s why Pennsylvania is the only state in our country that still has not passed a budget. We can’t find commonality and common ground in what each side says. If we can find the best pieces from the Republican side, the best pieces from the Democrat side, let’s call it what it is: serving the people. And that’s the most important thing.

Forward is a national party, but has endorsed candidates in mostly local races. Why is that important?

People tend to look at politics from a national perspective. But the reality is, our local government is really what impacts people’s lives. If you think about City Council, they’re the ones that make the decisions about if you’re going to have clean streets, if your garbage is going to be collected on time, if there’s going to be a curfew, whatever it may be.

In Philadelphia, even a two party system is non-existent here. I think people should have a choice. And that choice can be Democrat, Republican, or something like us. Voters should have some opportunity to vote for someone who is going to represent their interests.

Dugan has tried to thread a needle — he lost the Democratic primary, will be on the ballot as a Republican, but won’t call himself a Republican. By endorsing him, the Forward Party deliberately chose him over Larry Krasner, who defeated Dugan in the primary. Why?

I think it’s a good example of what the Forward Party is trying to do. People are trying to tag Pat as a Republican. The reality is, he got about 6,000 Republican votes, and he got more than 53,000 Democratic votes. So there are definitely people from the Democratic side that wanted him, and some people who are Republican. The Republicans didn’t even run a candidate because it’s such a Democratic town.

When we look at Pat’s record of what he’s done in the last 20 years as a judge, he’s looking to bring folks from both sides of the aisle together to potentially win that seat. I love what Pat says: If you had to put a letter next to his name, it would be P for Philadelphia. The fact that he left 20 years in a pretty safe job as a judge to come out and do this says a lot about the values and how important it is to him for Philadelphia to be a safe community. People want to see justice served. They want to see if someone does something wrong, they are held accountable. But Pat also has been involved in restorative justice programs. Those are two hats you can wear at the same time — you can want to hold criminal activity accountable, and at the same time, want to see those people once they’ve served go back into public life and rebuild their lives.

As you’ve pointed out, Democrats have such an overwhelming majority among voters in Philadelphia that it’s hard for Republicans on the ballot to pull ahead. Do you think Forward’s endorsement of Dugan will make a difference?

We are still new, and here in PA we have the beginning of an infrastructure which has helped candidates like Eric Settle build infrastructure, get volunteers, build the fundraising platforms. We can do some on the ground work — tabling, canvassing, door knocking.

And giving people a choice re-engages them in the election. This is the biggest boost to the election since May. People were calling this a sleepy election, and all of a sudden, it’s less sleepy, right? Let’s say turnout gets notched up to 18 percent or 20 percent or 25 percent, and people are starting to exercise their democratic right to vote. I think that’s meaningful for all of us, no matter who wins.

So you think having Forward Party in the mix can increase turnout?

Yeah. We’re talking about democracy going in the dark. And here’s our opportunity to exercise our democratic rights, and only 16 percent of us do it. The Forward Party is working towards an open primary system [where voters elect candidates in the primary, regardless of party]. We are stuck in a two labels process. If you were a Republican voter who loved Pat Dugan before the primary, you couldn’t vote for him because of the way the system is set up.

Look at the number of uncontested elections in PA and in this city — it’s insane. Having a choice makes better candidates, makes better public servants. I happen to live in District 175 and we have a good public servant, MaryLouise Isaacson, who does a fine job. But that office has been occupied by more or less the same representation for 20 years, because she took over from Mike O’Neill, and was Mike O’Neill’s chief of staff. I think she’s been primaried just once. Whether it’s a Republican or a Forward Party person or whomever, to be in there, raising questions about whether she’s representing everyone in the district is valuable.

Right, they don’t have to make their case to the public if they have no challenger.

When a candidate has to fight for their seat, they know they need to go around, knock on doors, listen and hear from their constituents. If nobody’s challenging them, they’re not going to do that. They’ll keep doing what they do, which may be fine, but it’s not going to force them to go back and say, How do I defend my record? How do I remain accountable to people if I’m not going out and fighting for it?

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Forward Party volunteer interviewed here. It is Robert Grabel.

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