ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Next month, two Republican candidates will face off in what looks to be a strongly contested primary in the Pennsylvania Attorney General election.
The two Republicans, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday and state Rep. Craig Williams, are jockeying for position as they seek their party’s nomination for Pennsylvania’s top legal office. The state Republican Party has thrown its support behind Sunday, but this became one of several key issues dividing the two men during a televised debate that aired on WHTM earlier this month.
Williams — who has served Pennsylvania’s 160th House district in Chester and Delaware counties since 2021 and was previously a military prosecutor — has accused DA Sunday of operating “like a progressive Democrat” in York County, arguing it has become one of the state’s most dangerous counties. Sunday conceded the county is “geographically challenged” because of its proximity to Baltimore, but claimed his leadership led to an 80% decrease in gang violence and a 75% decrease in homicides within the city of York.
Sunday and Williams have positioned themselves as strong believers in “law and order” and “going after bad guys,” especially when it comes to crime issues in Philadelphia.
Both candidates are critical of Philadelphia County DA Larry Krasner’s handling of prosecuting gun crimes, with Williams going as far as to lead an effort to impeach Krasner in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Philadelphia is “under siege” because Kranser is “not prosecuting crime,” Williams said.
While still critical of Krasner, Sunday stopped short of calling for the DA’s removal, arguing that “we don’t know” who could replace him.
On a personal level, Sunday and Williams have sparred over their respective political careers.
Sunday has criticized Williams for simultaneously running for both Attorney General and his state House seat. On the other hand, Williams has questioned Sunday’s proven conservative credentials, quipping that he never voted for Barack Obama or Joe Biden — which Williams says is the biggest difference between them.
Despite their differences, Sunday and Williams have taken mostly standard Republican positions on capital punishment, abortion and drug-related issues. Both candidates agree that the death penalty should be an option in prosecuting the most heinous crimes, and that marijuana should not yet be legalized for recreational use.
Both Sunday and Williams say abortion is not a constitutional right in Pennsylvania — only a statutory law — but neither would prosecute women who seek abortions by traveling to Pennsylvania from other states where the practice has been restricted since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Williams would prosecute doctors who perform illegal abortions after Pennsylvania’s 26-week limit, and Sunday says the Attorney General’s office should simply follow abortion laws as set by the Pennsylvania legislature.
Both candidates believe the ongoing fentanyl crisis and prevalence of fraud against senior citizens are of high importance to Pennsylvania’s next Attorney General.
“The number one issue facing Pennsylvanians is the fentanyl epidemic,” said Sunday, adding that he plans to collaborate with other GOP attorneys-general to address the issue. “I will do everything within the constraints of the law to protect Pennsylvanians from fentanyl that’s coming up from the [U.S.-Mexico] border.”
“We’re going to work on getting federal detainers into our counties so that the federal government can come in and when people are arrested and convicted and being released from jail after their conviction, we can take them for federal prosecution,” Williams said of his fentanyl strategy.
Sunday and Williams will face off in Pennsylvania’s GOP primary election on Tuesday, April 23. The winner will earn the Republican Party’s nomination for Attorney General and face one of five Democratic candidates running for the office in November’s general election.
