HARRISBURG — Whoever becomes attorney general will have to work with one of the states’ most challenging officials: Philadelphia’s progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner.

Krasner, first elected in 2017, has become a hotshot for Harrisburg Republicans, who blame his unapologetic behavior and focus on criminal justice reform for a perceived high crime rate in Philadelphia. (The high crime rate is just a perception, Krasner rightly notes, as gun violence is down across the city and Philly is about to have one of the lowest homicide rates in 10 years.)

The Attorney General of Pennsylvania is top law enforcement officer in the stateresponsible for providing resources to each of the 67 community prosecutors and completion of criminal investigations. But as the state’s most populous city, Philadelphia has the most prosecutors and handles the most cases, ensuring that the two officials will have to work together.

” READ MORE: Meet Eugene DePasquale and Dave Sunday, the first to be Pa’s next Attorney General.

Democratic candidate Eugene DePasqualeformer state auditor general and Republican Dave Sunday, York County District Attorney, they both said in interviews would try to form relationships with Krasner, who said he would do the same, even though he supports DePasquale.

DePasquale, for his part, said he knows Krasner personally and noted that Philly’s district attorney has been overwhelmingly elected twice in the city.

“I know Larry can be a little snappy at times, but by the same token, my job is to work with all 67 DAs,” DePasquale said. “So it doesn’t matter who you are, what your party is, my job is to work with everyone to make sure communities are safe and I will certainly do that with Larry and the other 66 DAs.”

Contradictory relationship on the horizon?

Both Sunday and Krasner hinted that their relationship would be potentially fractious — though both vowed to work together regardless of political party.

While Krasner’s support for the Democratic nominee is not surprising, the political party has not always informed its conflicts in the past. He and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, the state’s former attorney general, publicly fought with each other over a series of problems.

On Sunday, Krasner’s approach to criminal justice overshadowed his record of holding violent criminals accountable.

“You can’t just have redemption all day,” Sunday said in an interview last month. “You can’t have redemption without accountability.”

Krasner questioned whether he would enforce the laws for his wealthy supporters on Sunday like Jeffrey Yassco-founder of the Susquehanna International Group and suggested that Intervention programs in York County boast Sunday it builds on the work Philly pioneered. (Sunday denied this and said at least one intervention and prevention program was in place before either was elected.)

“Here’s the news, Dave: We’re better at public safety,” Krasner said. “I understand you are on the mean streets of York with your 37% discount. We’re at 40.7%… Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so thank you for that, Dave Sunday.”

“I’m sure the DA in Philly is looking to support someone who would have a similar approach to violent crime as he does,” Sunday said, implying that DePasquale would be soft on crime. “Since Philly’s DA has isolated himself from the rest of the state, the last thing he wants is an AG who won’t let him and will work as hard as he can to bring other ideas and thoughts to increase public safety to the citizens of Philadelphia. “

Part of the conflict between Krasner and Sunday dates back to their early days as district attorneys. Krasner has chosen to leave the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association at the start of his first term — a decision he stands by today.

Krasner said he removed Philly from the DA’s association because, although the city has 40 percent of the state’s DAs, it had only one vote in the association. So the association could go to lawmakers in Harrisburg and say the DA’s association supported a policy change, even though the state’s largest city opposed it. He was also concerned that the association was pursuing policies that were “good for mass incarceration, bad for Philadelphia.”

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done,” Krasner said of leaving the DA’s association.

Krasner also said his office has always collaborated with others willing to work together, including working daily with the current attorney general, and pointed to the results of the statewide gun violence task force to reduce gang violence in city.

But for Sunday and other prosecutors such as Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, a Democrat who ran in the primary elections for AGthe move was another way for Krasner to isolate himself and get out of the way to avoid collaborating with his colleagues.

SEPTA’s special prosecutor and the Harrisburg issues

Krasner’s conflicts with Harrisburg officials are not new.

He was impeached by a GOP-controlled state House in 2022and especially, the Democrats and Shapiro supported a GOP plan to creates a special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general to investigate crimes on or near SEPTA that Krasner claims is a way to usurp the will of Philadelphia voters, who have twice elected him the city’s top prosecutor.

Attorney General Michele Henry, who was appointed by Shapiro to serve out the remainder of his term, appointed Michael Untermeyer as SEPTA’s special prosecutorafter Krasner’s first legal bid to overturn the law as unconstitutionally failed. The appeal now awaits a decision by the state Supreme Court.

Both candidates for attorney general said they would call on the SEPTA attorney general, though DePasquale said he disagreed with its creation.

“My daughter is on that SEPTA train all the time, so safety on SEPTA is very important to me,” DePasquale said. “I would prefer a much more collaborative approach.”