Philadelphia elected Larry Krasner District Attorney of Philadelphia with more than 75 percent of the vote in 2017, during a national wave of criminal justice reform. Often listed among DA reformers in Chicago (Kim Foxx), Los Angeles (George Gascón) and San Francisco (Chesa Boudin), Krasner referred to himself as a “career civil rights lawyer.”

During his first campaign, he promised to reduce incarceration rates by ending criminal charges for marijuana possession and prostitution. He proposed ending cash bail for those facing misdemeanors and / or nonviolent felonies. He called for more police accountability. His campaign also received $1.45 million from George Soros through a PAC.

While all of the above progressive DAs have since been voted out of office, Krasner has remained Philadelphia’s DA since 2018, having been re-elected to a second term in 2021 with 71 percent of the vote and surviving a 2022 impeachment attempt in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Krasner is running against former Municipal Court Judge Patrick Dugan for the Democratic nomination in the May 20, 2025 primary election.

Krasner’s two terms as District Attorney

Krasner’s time as Philadelphia’s DA has been rife with controversy. At the outset, he fired 31 prosecutors — 10 percent of the city’s Assistant District Attorneys. By the end of his first term, The Inquirer reported 261 attorneys had left the District Attorney’s Office (DAO); some spoke out against the DA.

In 2018, Krasner made good on some campaign promises. He demoted possession of small amounts of marijuana (without a medical marijuana card) to a civil (no longer criminal) offense. He did the same for prostitution for offenders with fewer than three convictions. His office dropped cash bail requirements for select low-level misdemeanors and felonies (retail theft, DWI, trespassing, theft from a motor vehicle, possession of contraband, PWID of less than 51 pounds of marijuana), which critics called “modest and restrained.”

In 2021, Krasner established the Alternative Felony Disposition program, which, instead of incarcerating first-time offenders for illegal possession of a firearm, enrolled them in a half-year program of weekly meetings with social workers, refocusing them on work and school. The DOA reported the program reduced re-arrest by 76 percent.However, in his second term, Krasner decreased diversion rates compared to his previous term, and compared to the previous DA.

Over Krasner’s six years in office, the number of firearm cases withdrawn or dismissed has increased 67 percent compared to his predecessor.Through his tenure, Philadelphia’s homicides spiked from 351 in 2018 to 562 in 2021 — and declined to 262 in 2024, a pattern that mirrors national trends.

In 2024, the DA’s office had a 92 percent trial-ready conviction rate for homicide shootings and an 82 percent trial-ready conviction rate for non-fatal shootings. However, 46 percent of cases involving firearms and 57 percent of violent crime cases were withdrawn or dismissed, according to the DAO’s data dashboard.

Organized retail theft has consistently and dramatically risen since Krasner took office — mirroring national trends. In mid-2024, Krasner announced he was abandoning his office’s 2018 policy of treating retail theft under $500 as a summary offense.

Simultaneously, the DAO launched an official retail and house theft task force. The group was charged with going after prolific retail theft and fencing while addressing other underlying issues of need-based petty theft, including addiction and homelessness. The task force collaborated with the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) and organized 1,750 retailers to use an app to report crimes. Since, the PPD has arrested organized retail theft crews.

In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Krasner joined city officials in taking a strong stance against election interference in Philadelphia, invoking the phrase, “F around and find out.”

His third campaign for office

Since announcing his bid for a third term, Krasner has largely campaigned on promises that he is a threat to Donald Trump and that, if he wins handily, as he did in 2021, it could signal success for Democrats in the midterms.

He’s promising to continue his pledges of prosecutorial reform, including expanding alternatives to prosecution, reducing racial disparities in the justice system and continuing to fight “overly harsh” sentences and says he reduced future incarceration years by nearly 50 percent during his first term.

Krasner says he will protect democracy and protect the rights of Philly’s immigrants. Not surprisingly, one of his campaign slogans: “F around and find out.”

As in the 2021 primary, City Democratic ward leaders are not endorsing a District Attorney candidate in the upcoming primary.

Before becoming Philadelphia District Attorney

Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1961, Krasner moved to the Philadelphia area with his family as a child. He graduated from Conestoga High School, and earned degrees from the University of Chicago and Stanford University Law School.

Before assuming the role, he worked for the Federal Public Defender’s Office and eventually opened his own practice, where he specialized in civil rights cases. In particular, he made his reputation on cases involving police brutality, suing the Philadelphia Police Department 75 times.

Meanwhile, Krasner has been a 40 percent owner in a company that owes more than $142,000 in back real estate taxes for a Center City property.

The Citizen’s coverage of Larry Krasner

The Citizen has covered the Philadelphia DA extensively since 2017. Here are some examples:

We have published guest commentaries praising his work to disrupt the District Attorney’s Office; we’ve written pieces questioning his ability to create real criminal justice reform. Find all Citizen coverage of the DA here.

Larry Krasner’s 2025 campaign

The Krasner for DA campaign website.

Follow the campaign on social media: X, Facebook.

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