Republican York County District Attorney Dave Sunday and Democrat former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale are running for Pennsylvania Attorney General (campaign photos)
With three weeks to go until the election, candidates for state attorney general faced off for a final time to try to woo voters into electing them as the state’s top prosecutor.
Democratic nominee and former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and his GOP contender York County District Attorney Dave Sunday spent an hour challenging each other on policy positions during a debate hosted by ABC27 Tuesday.
Although all row offices are on the line this year, attorney general is the only office without an incumbent running, as Attorney General Michelle Henry chose not to seek reelection.
The office rose to national prominence following the 2020 election when then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro successfully fought legal battles brought on by the Trump campaign questioning the results of the election.
The victor of this race may have to face similar challenges given the amount of lawsuits already filed by Republican groups, including in Pennsylvania.
DePasquale had never been a prosecutor, but Sunday has and was quick to jump on that during Tuesday’s debate.
“If you’re leading prosecutors, and you have never done a jury trial, you’ve never looked at a jury, you’ve never been in front of a judge, you’ve never been in front of a grand jury, you’ve never done any of the criminal prosecutorial work that’s done,” Sunday said. “How can you be expected to lead an office that looks to you for advice as you’re going through all of these different issues?”
DePasquale touted his work going through the backlog of untested rape kits as a qualification for his candidacy.
“Working together with prosecutors, with police all over the state, we brought justice to victims,” he said. “We got violent rapists off the street.”
Elections
Sunday said he would protect elections regardless of party affiliation, adding Shapiro acted appropriately following the 2020 election.
In 2019, DePasquale released a report of an audit he conducted of the voter roll systems in Pennsylvania. That report found more than 50,000 potentially inaccurate voter records.
Last month, Republican group United Sovereign Americans filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge in Pennsylvania to have the voter rolls cleaned. DePasquale brought up his audit to demonstrate his commitment to secure elections.
“I conducted investigations of all 67 county elections departments,” he said. “I investigated why they were buying the voting machines. They were making sure that they were procured fairly, making sure that they had accurate counts, that’s the type of leadership that I’ve already delivered as auditor general.”
When asked by moderator Dennis Owens if the voter rolls were clean enough for the upcoming election, DePasquale said they were.
Abortion
In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
DePasquale stood by his comments in the previous debate that he would not prosecute a woman for having an abortion, nor a doctor for performing one.
Sunday also stood by his statements from the first debate saying he would not prosecute a woman for receiving an abortion under the current law.
“It would never happen,” he said.
He added the attorney general’s role is to defend the constitutionality of statutes until a court rules they are not constitutional anymore.
Drug crisis
In 2021, more than 5,000 Pennsylvanians died from an overdose.
As district attorney, Sunday had York County police equipped with naloxone, also known as Narcan. He said that program can be expanded while also punishing drug traffickers
“This can be done all over Pennsylvania, where you help get people into treatment that need to be there, but at the same time, you utilize the power of the Attorney General grand jury to go after large drug trafficking organizations and put them in jail,” he said.
DePasquale said the state could use opioid settlement money toward drug rehabilitation centers.
“As attorney general, I’ll make sure that we lead the fight to get us into treatment programs there are 90 days or more, so that we can truly put a dent in this crisis,” he said.
Gun control
DePasquale said he would crack down on illegal gun traffickers, including those crossing state lines, and work with other state attorneys general.
“That’s simply the approach I did on cracking down on the untested rape kits, developing partnerships all over the United States to get rid of that backlog of untested rape kits,” he said
He also said the legislature should pass red flag laws and universal background checks.
Sunday drew upon his work establishing the York Group Violence Initiative. The group’s work led to a 75% drop in homicides in the county.
“When you look at the Group Violence Initiative in particular, this is something that can be done all throughout Pennsylvania,” he said.
Artificial intelligence and social media
Owens questioned the candidates on the threat of AI, referring to a bill passed by the legislature last week that would combat deepfake images of minors.
Both candidates aired concerns over social media and its effects on children.
“I am very concerned about the mental health of our young people, specifically when it comes to social media and AI,” DePasquale said.
He said investigations must be conducted to uncover the damage and hold people accountable.
Sunday said digital safety would be a top priority for his office, citing social media risks and the dark web.
“If we can’t get ahead of it, we are in deep trouble, and our citizens deserve better,” he said.
Sunday also said Pennsylvania needs a cyber team to go after child predators using tools such as social media and gaming systems.
Both candidates said they would not support a ban on social media for teens at the moment and would work to educate Pennsylvanians on the dangers of social media and AI as attorney general.
Marijuana
Sunday did not indicate his support of legalizing recreational marijuana but said he would “respect the word of the legislature” should it become legal.
He said there needs to be a public safety aspect should the legislature legalize it citing drug DUIs and impacts on a child’s developing brain.
In 2021, most DUIs were non-alcohol related, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The study did not show which substance was most prevalent in those DUIs.
DePasquale said prohibition does not work and called for the law to be changed, though safeguards should be in place to prevent harm to the community.
“I do believe that we should regulate and tax marijuana,” he said. “I believe that we should try to make the drug safer. I do believe we should have strong mechanisms to keep it out of the hands of children. I do believe that we need to make sure that we update our technology so that we can crack on people driving impaired, whether it be alcohol or marijuana or any other narcotic.”
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 21, and the deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 29.
Ballots must be received by local elections office by 8 p.m. Nov. 5.
Voters can register at vote.pa.gov.
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