HARRISBURG — The race to become Pennsylvania’s next attorney general will be one of the more closely watched contests this fall, as six candidates jockey for the chance to occupy one of the most powerful offices in the state.
Democrat Eugene DePasquale will face Republican Dave Sunday, as well as four third-party contenders: Justin L. Magill of the Constitution Party, Eric Settle of the Forward Party, Green Party candidate Richard L. Weiss, and Libertarian Robert Cowburn.
With a budget of $144 million and a staff of 1,060 prosecutors, attorneys, investigators, and other staff, the Office of Attorney General is, at its core, the law firm that represents Pennsylvania’s vast government and defends its laws in court.
But it also investigates and prosecutes everything from organized crime to political corruption, a mission that over the past several decades has boosted the office’s profile — and by extension, the public profile of the person at the helm of the agency.
Learn more about DePasquale below:
Who is Eugene DePasquale?
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Eugene DePasquale, 53, has spent much of his career in elected office.
He attended the College of Wooster, the University of Pittsburgh, and Widener University Commonwealth Law School. In 2006, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served three two-year terms representing York County.
In 2012, he ran and won the job of state auditor general, where he maxed out at two four-year terms at the helm of that office.
In 2020, he snagged the Democratic nomination to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in the 10th Congressional District, but ultimately lost that race.
Though he does not have prosecutorial experience, DePasquale has centered his campaign around his years of working in Harrisburg, a deep bench of policy positions, and a long record of policy fights.
A Pittsburgh native who later made York his adopted home, DePasquale was part of a large freshman class of lawmakers ushered into office on a wave of public outrage after the 2005 pay raise controversy that scarred the legislature’s reputation.
When he ran for auditor general in 2012, he often touted his record in the legislature of minimizing government spending. He frequently boasted that he was the first legislator to post his expenses online and that he had the lowest among lawmakers. He once noted during a debate that he bought his district office furniture at a yard sale.
As auditor general, DePasquale made headlines with several of his office’s reports, including a 2019 performance audit of the state’s voter registration system in which he criticized the administration of fellow Democrat, then-Gov. Tom Wolf, for denying access to key documents necessary for a thorough review.
DePasquale’s office also revealed troubling problems with the state’s child abuse hotline — where nearly 58,000 calls went unanswered over two years — and brought attention to the backlog of untested rape kits.
Earlier this year, he snagged the Democratic nomination over four competitors in a cordial primary.
In recent months, DePasquale has drawn heavily — more so than in campaigns past — on personal challenges he’s faced, ones he believes make him uniquely qualified to understand the struggles of people outside the halls of power.
At the Pennsylvania Press Club in Harrisburg this August, he talked about his father’s yearslong addiction to opioids after returning from the Vietnam War, which resulted in a decadelong federal prison sentence. He also discussed his family’s struggles taking care of his disabled brother, and the difficult decision he and his ex-wife faced after she experienced an ectopic pregnancy.
DePasquale is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Top issues: If elected attorney general, DePasquale has said he would defend the state’s elections, rebuff any attempts to chip away at abortion access, prosecute hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, and crack down on businesses that violate consumer rights.
“I've got the spine to take on big corporations, big insurance companies, and to run complex investigations,” he said at a March debate.
When asked how he would address violent crime during the same debate, DePasquale said the state needs to focus on mental health in addition to getting guns away from “bad people.” He said the state needs to implement a so-called “red flag” law, which would allow law enforcement or family to petition a judge to temporarily take away an individual's firearms if it appears that person may harm themselves or others.
Endorsements: Democratic members of the legislature; county and local officials; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.); former U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (D., Pa.); labor unions including the Pennsylvania State Education Association, AFSCME Council 13, IBEW Local 98, and the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association; and organizations including the Giffords Law Center, the Conservation Voters of PA and Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania.
>>READ MORE: Your guide to the candidates for attorney general
