Candidates participating in this year’s general election were invited to submit information to the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, which partnered with PennLive to create this voters’ guide.
The candidates below are running for the office of Attorney General in Pennsylvania and are in the order provided by the Pa. Dept. of State website.
Attorney General - Democrat
Keir Bradford-Grey
Keir Bradford-Grey poses for a photograph in Philadelphia, Friday, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)AP
County: Philadelphia
Occupation: Attorney
Education: BA- Albany State University; JD- Ohio Northern University Pettit School of Law
Qualifications: As both a federal and Chief Defender, I’ve pioneered legal theories for equal protection, transforming the state’s largest public defender association into a community defender. I also bring effective administrative skills and unmatched expertise in improving systems and delivering just outcomes.
Contact: keirforag.com | instagram.com/keirforpa | facebook.com/keirforpa
What are your top three priorities to address as Attorney General?
Throughout my career, I have pushed the envelope to advance the principles of the law so that they are applicable to our current societal norms and needs. As Attorney General, I’ll challenge powerful interests, from corporate polluters to predatory lenders. My top priorities will include protecting access to vital services like healthcare and housing, ensuring financial stability by holding accountable those engaging in predatory practices, and tackling crimes committed in boardrooms, such as illegal gun distribution and pharmaceutical companies’ false advertising. I am committed to being the people’s lawyer, advocating for fairness, justice, and the well-being of all.
What specific challenges does the Pennsylvania criminal justice system face, and how would you address them?
Addressing the challenges within the Pennsylvania criminal justice system requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach. As Attorney General, I will actively combat racial disparities, advocating for equitable law enforcement practices and enhanced legal representation, drawing from my experience as a public defender. Improving post-conviction review processes and advancements in forensic science standards to mitigate the risk of wrongful convictions. Tackling inadequate legal representation involves bolstering public defender resources and exploring innovative approaches. Comprehensive reform for overcrowded prisons, enhancing reentry programs, and fostering positive community-police relations through transparency and accountability.
What do you see as the primary challenges to achieving equality under the law?
One fundamental challenge is systemic discrimination, deeply rooted in various institutions. Overcoming this requires comprehensive reforms, including in education, employment, and housing, to dismantle discriminatory practices. Additionally, disparities in economic opportunities and healthcare also contribute to unequal outcomes, highlighting the need for policies addressing these socio-economic factors. As Attorney General, my commitment is to address these challenges holistically, advocating for policies that promote economic justice, combat systemic racism, and ensure equitable access to education and healthcare-this includes reproductive health and abortion access.
Joseph Khan
Joseph Khan is running for Pennsylvania Attorney General.Provided by the League of Women Voters
County: Bucks
Occupation: Attorney
Education: I’m a proud graduate of Philadelphia public schools (and now a proud Central Bucks School District dad). I earned my undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College before attending the University of Chicago School of Law, where Professor Barack Obama helped guide me on a path of public service.
Qualifications: I am the most experienced prosecutor running, having served 10 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and 6 years in the Philadelphia DA’s Office. I also have the strongest record on civil justice and won statewide recognition for defending our rights and battling corruption as Bucks County Solicitor.
Contact: joekhan.com | instagram.com/joekhan252 | facebook.com/JoeKhanforPA
What are your top three priorities to address as Attorney General?
Aside from ensuring that the Attorney General’s Office continues to promote public safety in all 67 counties, we will have three immediate priorities on Day One. First, we will need to protect Pennsylvanians from attacks on our rights, including reproductive rights and the right to vote, which will be under assault from a battery of legal challenges by election deniers in January 2025. Second, we will create Pennsylvania’s first-ever Housing Justice Unit to ensure that the Attorney General’s Office is doing its part to address the housing crisis. Third, we will reimagine the Environmental Crimes Unit as an Environmental Justice Unit to use the awesome power of our office broadly to enforce our constitutional right to a safe environment.
What specific challenges does the Pennsylvania criminal justice system face, and how would you address them?
Bias is the throughline between so many of our most pressing issues. As Attorney General, I’ll tackle these problems by leveraging my expertise and credibility as a prosecutor, starting with our justice system’s inconsistent treatment of victims of offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence and hate crimes. I’ll also provide a model for best practices and priorities on issues like bail, forfeiture, and diversion, where my success will provide templates for legislative reform. I’ll root out police corruption across the state and change the culture of cronyism that flourishes in too many DA’s Offices. And I will be fearless in using my role on the Board of Pardons to right wrongs that occurred in the past.
What do you see as the primary challenges to achieving equality under the law?
In my experience, the scales of justice don’t balance themselves. The extreme rollback of our rights by the radical majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is a reminder that our system of justice is only as good as the people in it. As a prosecutor, I fought for justice as an advocate for vulnerable communities – and usually had to push against gravitational pulls to ensure that the law was being applied fairly and equally. Every lawsuit I filed against a big corporation was an uphill battle to get justice for the vulnerable. And when I’ve defended our rights, it’s been against forces with much more resources. Fighting for equality is hard work, and the setbacks can be discouraging. We just need to stick together and continue the fight.
Eugene DePasquale
Eugene DePasquale speaks at a news conference Dec. 4, 2019, in Harrisburg.Commonwealth Media Services
County: Allegheny
Occupation: Attorney / Adjunct Professor
Education: BA from The College of Wooster (OH), an MPA from the University of Pittsburgh and a JD from Widener University School of Law.
Qualifications: Eugene DePasquale is the former two-term Auditor General of Pennsylvania. Prior to his tenure as Auditor General , Mr. DePasquale was a three-term member of the state General Assembly representing the 95th District.
Contact: depasqualeforag.com | facebook.com/DePasqualePA
What are your top three priorities to address as Attorney General?
My top priorities are protecting our democracy, defending reproductive freedom, and protecting against corporate greed. Protecting our Democracy is the greatest task and potential crisis we face - which the Attorney General will be front and center on. Reproductive freedoms are under attack across the country. From when to choose not to have a family through abortion to when to choose to have a family through IVF treatments, I believe Pennsylvanians should have the freedom to make those decisions for themselves. As Attorney General, I will be your legal advocate against corporate greed. I will crack down on businesses and CEOs taking advantage of consumers and help defend workers from wage theft, stop price gouging, and close tax loopholes.
What specific challenges does the Pennsylvania criminal justice system face, and how would you address them?
As Attorney General, I will work with law enforcement to protect our communities by investing in prevention tactics and holding those who threaten our safety accountable. I will work to restore trust between residents and local law enforcement to ensure our police can best serve and protect the Commonwealth.
What do you see as the primary challenges to achieving equality under the law?
There are so many places that we have challenges achieving equality under the law, including LGBTQ protections, the criminalization of addiction, and disparities in how the law treats people of different races and ethnicities. As Attorney General, I would enforce the law equally, but also advocate for changes in the law that gave Pennsylvanians greater protections from these inequalities.
Jack Stollsteimer
Jack Stollsteimer looks on during a news conference outside Academy Park High School, April 26, 2022, in Sharon Hill, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)AP
County: Delaware
Occupation: District Attorney
Education: Temple University’s Beasley School of Law
Qualifications: District Attorney Delaware County
Contact: Campaign website | Facebook
What are your top three priorities to address as Attorney General?
1) Reducing gun violence in every community 2) Prosecuting wage theft and protect the right to collectively bargain 3) Protecting our environment and women’s reproductive rights.
What specific challenges does the Pennsylvania criminal justice system face, and how would you address them?
As District Attorney, I see everyday people in our criminal justice system who are suffering from mental health challenges and substance use disorders. We need more resources to divert these people into programs that offer hope.
What do you see as the primary challenges to achieving equality under the law?
Inequality of resources will always be the primary challenge to ensuring equality under our laws.
Jared Solomon
Jared Solomon is running for Pennsylvania Attorney General.Provided by the League of Women Voters
County: Philadelphia
Occupation: State Representative and JAG Attorney in PA National Guard
Education: Swarthmore College and Villanova Law
Qualifications: Securities and Antitrust Attorney, Community Organizer, State Representative, Chair of Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, lifetime 100% voting scorecard from Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates.
Contact: jaredsolomon.com | www.instagram.com/jaredgsolomon/ | facebook.com/JaredSolomonPA
What are your top three priorities to address as Attorney General?
1. Abortion and personal health care decisions are between a woman and her doctor, not politicians. As Attorney General, Jared will always protect and defend women’s access to abortion in PA.
2. The right to vote is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow. As Attorney General, Jared will work tirelessly to ensure that all Pennsylvanians can exercise their Constitutional right to the ballot box in free and fair elections.
3. As AG, Jared would work with the legislature to finally bring commonsense gun reforms to PA, including stronger red-flag laws, a ban on assault weapons, expanded background checks, and shutting the ghost gun loophole. Jared will take on the gun lobby, reckless gun retailers, and ghost gun manufacturers.
What specific challenges does the Pennsylvania criminal justice system face, and how would you address them?
As Attorney General, Jared would support investment in training and a return of policing in our cities to pre-pandemic engagement with communities so that officers have sectional integrity in all they do and get to know the schools, churches, and businesses within their sector. Each officer needs to build connections within the community they are policing, helping with investigative work and doing preventive policing instead of reactive policing. Similarly, we must rebrand what it means to be a member of the police force in PA with a massive public-service campaign that resonates with the best and brightest of this next generation to uplift our communities from within our communities.
What do you see as the primary challenges to achieving equality under the law?
The primary challenge to achieving equality under the law is the outsized influence of special interests who put padding their pocket above protecting Pennsylvanians. These special interests are at every turn: out-of-state landlords who don’t care about the communities their properties are in, reckless gun retailers and ghost gun manufacturers, corporate polluters and frackers to name a few. We need an Attorney General who will take on special interests, political power-brokers, and corporate cheats so that regular hard-working Pennsylvanians have a government that works for them. That’s why we need an AG with Jared’s record of taking on corporate greed as an antitrust and securities attorney, and of taking on Harrisburg as a State Rep.
Attorney General - Republican
David Sunday
This candidate has not completed the 2024 primary election voters’ guide.
Craig Williams
This candidate has not completed the 2024 primary election voters’ guide.