“York County has been one of the leading counties in the nation in fighting the fentanyl and heroin epidemic,” said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker in November. “Dave’s work leading the York County Drug Task Force has taken dealers and deadly fentanyl and heroin off the streets.”
"Dave has a rock-solid record of prosecuting our area's most dangerous criminals to the fullest extent of the law, and that is why it was an easy decision to endorse Dave Sunday for Attorney General,” said state Sen. Scott Martin, who chairs the Appropriations Committee.
“Dave Sunday is a veteran, experienced prosecutor and he has served York County with honor, integrity and distinction as York County DA,” said state Sen. Ryan Aument, whip of the GOP caucus. “He has been a recognized leader statewide in combating violence and keeping our communities safe from illegal drugs.”
Of the two Republicans seeking their party’s nomination to run for Pennsylvania attorney general this fall, many of Lancaster County’s most influential GOP lawmakers are backing York County District Attorney Dave Sunday over Delaware County state Rep. Craig Williams.
Sunday, 48, told LNP | LancasterOnline it “means the world” to him that many of Lancaster’s legislators have backed his campaign. “I think we share a lot of the same values and a lot of the same issues.”
READ: 5 Lancaster GOP lawmakers haven't endorsed caucus leader Bryan Cutler
He said his work to combat human trafficking in central Pennsylvania has often put him in direct contact with Smucker and Lancaster County D.A. Heather Adams. Last year, the three of them, along with some state Legislators, met for a roundtable event focused on human trafficking.
Smucker, whose congressional district covers Lancaster County and the southern half of York County, made two $5,000 contributions to Sunday’s campaign, according to campaign finance filings.
For others backing him, Sunday said it’s probably due to his hard-on-crime mindset. He pointed to York County’s 30% decline in crime and 26% drop in overdose deaths, despite the state’s increase by about 15%, since he first took office in 2018.
“The type of leadership that’s needed… is someone who has a history and track record of making our community safe,” Sunday said. “And I’m the only candidate who has that.”
Sunday, a Navy veteran who’s serving his second four-year term as D.A., is broadly viewed as the favorite in the April 23 primary. He was the first Republican candidate to announce his bid, which helped him clinch an early endorsement from the national Republican Attorneys General Association.
Before becoming York County’s D.A. six years ago, Sunday worked for the office under his predecessor since 2009. As chief deputy prosecutor, he oversaw major crime cases and the felony narcotics unit. He gained regional recognition when he was appointed in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Justice to be special assistant United States attorney for the Middle District to prosecute gang, gun and drug cases in federal court.
Sunday, a Widener Law School graduate, visited Lititz during U.S. Senate hopeful Dave McCormick’s February campaign bus tour kickoff, where he also obtained McCormick’s endorsement.
He’s won endorsements from the state Republican Party, the PA Sheriffs Association PAC, and two other Lancaster County legislators – state Rep. Dave Zimmerman of East Earl and state Sen. Chris Gebhard, who lives in North Cornwall but represents a northern sliver of the county.
“We want our Attorney General to keep us safe,” said Gebhard, who worked with Sunday when his district included a portion of York County before the redistricting shifted the outlines of his district. “I can think of no one I would more like to see as Attorney General than Dave Sunday.”
READ: Lancaster County Democrats back candidate to challenge GOP state Rep. Steve Mentzer
But some of the county’s rank-and-file lawmakers — including Brett Miller, of East Hempfield; Keith Greiner, of Upper Leacock; Mindy Fee, of Manheim Borough; and Tom Jones, of East Donegal — have kept quiet about the race. None of them has publicly endorsed Sunday and either declined or didn’t respond to LNP | LancasterOnline’s requests for comment.
State Rep. Steve Mentzer, of Manheim Township, was direct in his neutrality: “They are both very qualified candidates.”
Sunday’s opponent: state Rep. Craig Williams
Sunday will face Williams, a 59-year-old Marine Corps veteran who earned statewide attention for working on an impeachment case against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
On his campaign website, Williams touts his service as chief prosecutor for “the largest base” in the Marine Corps and legal counsel for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Williams, a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, was also a federal prosecutor with the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Department of Justice.
He has repeatedly leveraged his lack of endorsements from the state party to promote himself as the anti-establishment candidate, even breaking out into a public argument with the Republican Attorneys General Association during its endorsement process, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Williams’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
State House Republican leader Bryan Cutler, of Drumore Township, initially endorsed Williams, calling him “a fierce advocate for our Republican priorities and values on the floor of the State House of Representatives.”
But Cutler rescinded his endorsement after Sunday obtained the state party’s backing. As a county GOP committee member, Cutler told LNP | LancasterOnline that he supports the official party-endorsed candidate.
Current Attorney General Michelle Henry, a Democrat, was appointed to the role by Shapiro to finish out his term after he won the 2022 gubernatorial election. She isn’t running this year.
How about the Democrats?
Voters in the Democratic primary will pick from former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, former Philadelphia Chief Public Defender Keir Bradford-Grey, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, former prosecutor and Bucks County solicitor Joe Khan, and Philadelphia state Rep. Jared Solomon.
The state Democratic party didn’t endorse any of the candidates. And when three of them — Stollsteimer, Bradford-Grey and DePasquale — attended the Lancaster County Democratic Committee’s endorsement convention in January, none of them walked away with that endorsement either.
But Lancaster County’s two Democratic state representatives, Mike Sturla and Izzy Smith-Wade-El, are backing different candidates.
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At the county party’s nominating convention, Sturla, who represents the northern half of Lancaster city as well as Manheim Township and East Petersburg, spoke in support of DePasquale for attorney general: “Whatever Gene has ever done, he has always done it (at) the utmost level and with the most professional quality that you can put to it.”
DePasquale, a former auditor general during former Gov. Tom Wolf’s tenure and a three-term state representative, is the candidate with possibly the most statewide name recognition. He touted his history of winning statewide office compared to his contenders.
At the convention, DePasquale highlighted the backlog of 3,000 untested rape kits and 50,000 unanswered phone calls to the child abuse hotline that he and his office revisited and cleared while he was auditor general. In 2020, DePasquale led a failed attempt to unseat 10th District U.S. Rep. Scott Perry.
While Khan didn’t attend the county Democrats’ convention, Smith-Wade-El, whose 49th Legislative District covers the southern half of Lancaster city and all of Lancaster Township and Millersville Borough, has endorsed him. In a statement, Smith-Wade-El said Khan “will hold big corporations accountable, reform the criminal justice system, and protect the rights of marginalized communities.”
Khan, whose father emigrated from Pakistan, would be the first Asian American to hold the attorney general office. Khan has worked as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia D.A.’s Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 2017, he ran a failed bid for Philadelphia D.A.
While serving as Bucks County Solicitor, a job he left before announcing his attorney general bid, Khan defended ballots against lawsuits filed attempting to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Donald Trump. His brother is Philadelphia Democratic state Rep. Tarik Khan
The two parties’ nominees will go on to face each other in November’s general election for the highly coveted chief prosecutor role, which has launched the careers of several past officeholders — including Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Gov. Tom Corbett.
