November to Remember: Pennsylvania DA race turns into nasty battle for Democratic control

The 2023 elections may not have the fireworks of 2024, but there is still plenty up for grabs. In this “off-year,” most of which takes place on Nov. 7, Virginia will be keenly watched, particularly by followers of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), and whether he can springboard Republican success into national aspirations. Meanwhile, the governor’s mansion is up for grabs in Kentucky and Mississippi. New Jersey’s Republicans believe they have a real shot at turning the state red in legislative elections, while there are also fierce mayoral and district attorney battles throughout the United States. Voters will also decide several fascinating referendums, particularly in Ohio, Maine, and Texas. This Washington Examiner series, November to Remember, will dive into all of these and more over the following two weeks. Part 9 will deal with a particularly nasty district attorney’s race in Pittsburgh.

The Democratic drama brewing in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County will come to a head on Nov. 7 when voters decide between a progressive district attorney candidate the party officially backs and a six-term incumbent, also a Democrat, who lost his primary race but won a spot on the ballot as the write-in nominee for the Republican Party.

Democratic voters in Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is the county seat, overwhelmingly picked Matt Dugan, the county’s chief public defender, as their next district attorney over 25-year incumbent Stephen Zappala in May’s primary election. November’s race is essentially a rematch, with a lot more money and outside influence taking center stage.

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The local race has become a flashpoint in the national debate over criminal justice reform. Pennsylvania Justice & Public Safety PAC, which is funded by billionaire donor George Soros, gave more than $700,000 to Dugan’s campaign, which represented about 90% of the campaign’s total contributions. Zappala’s campaign, meanwhile, has used violent and chaotic scenes from cities from coast to coast to make its pitch to voters to stay the course and crack down on lawbreakers in multiple television ads and on social media.

If elected in the general election, Dugan has said he’ll push for greater reductions in cash bail, more mental health and drug programs, and will work with local law enforcement agencies to choose which crimes to prosecute and which to divert from the criminal justice system. He added that the “initial charging decision is crucial to the ultimate outcome of a case and thus has life-changing consequences for criminal defendants.”

Dugan said most of the cases filed in Allegheny County involve “low-level, non-violent offenses driven by any one or combination of factors” and include substance abuse disorder, untreated mental health problems, and the lack of stable housing and employment.

“I’ll work with local law enforcement agencies to divert low-level nonviolent cases out of the criminal justice system,” he said. “We’ll connect defendants to mental health and/or substance abuse treatment options when appropriate. Access to services is a key factor in reducing recidivism and ensuring people have the support networks in place to live a law-abiding life and is more cost-effective in the long run.”

Standing in his way of this criminal justice overhaul is Zappala, who believes lower-level crimes must continue to be prosecuted so Allegheny County doesn’t spiral.

“We’ve treated both drug dealers and persons who possess and run with bad guys as violent,” he said. “And that’s not going to change in my administration.”

While his party might have dropped him — in a telephone interview with the Washington Examiner, Sam Hens-Greco, the chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, called Zappala “a Republican” who delivered “lackluster” campaign performances — Zappala said he would continue to identify as a Democrat and that he has no plans to change.

Despite his resistance to leave the party, he is now reliant on the GOP’s ability to keep him in office and his political aspirations alive.

For some Republicans, Zappala represents the lesser of two evils, and they are ready to risk it all to keep him in office. They have done a complete 180 and painted him as an experienced prosecutor who will do more good than harm in Pittsburgh and prevent the city from turning into a mini Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, which have all seen an explosion in crime and general lawlessness in recent years.

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

“Steve may be a Democrat and I a Republican, but I think we have similar views on law and order, which is laws need to be followed,” Sam DeMarco, a county councilman and Allegheny County GOP chairman, said. “If you don’t like them, you could repeal them, or you could amend them, but you don’t have the luxury of being able to ignore them.” 

Zappala is also getting help from top Republican firms in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to run his campaign. Another in Pittsburgh, which used to work with former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, is helping create his television ads, and together, they are pushing the message that if Dugan wins, public safety will be at risk. 

“I’m Stephen Zappala, your district attorney,” one ad starts. “I’ve dedicated my career to protecting you and your family. I will never permit your safety to become an experiment.”

The go-to for Democrats is to expose Zappala as a “true Republican,” more interested in getting guns into the hands of citizens and putting women who want abortions behind bars rather than staying committed to criminal justice reform. 

During their only face-to-face debate in mid-October, Zappala and Dugan clashed on everything from experience to the role of the county’s top prosecutor in preliminary court hearings. Zappala’s main complaint against Dugan is that he lacks the prosecutorial chops needed to do the job, while Dugan says that in the past 20 years or so, Zappala has done little, if anything, to stem violence or other illegal activity in the area and has rested on his laurels. 

During the debate, Dugan painted an image of the district attorney’s office in disarray while Zappala slammed Dugan for being a public defender. 

“In the legal profession, you make choices as to what you want to specialize in,” Zappala said. “Obviously, Mr. Dugan has chosen to specialize in the representation of people accused of crimes. It doesn’t give you any insight into the criminal justice system.”

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Dugan countered, saying he had worked with “every stakeholder in the justice system from the head of probation to the president judge to the county executive.”

“I understand this, this criminal justice system as well as anyone,” he added. “I’ve been representing clients for more than a decade in this criminal justice system, seeing how it fails people on a daily basis. I’m ready to take over.”