Philly Judge Patrick Dugan resigns with plans to run for District Attorney as race heats up

Longtime Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan, who led the city’s lower courts through the chaos of a pandemic shutdown, has submitted his letter of resignation from the bench and sources close to him say he plans to launch a campaign for district attorney.

Dugan, 64, sent a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday, saying his final day on the job would be Dec. 11, according to a copy obtained by The Inquirer. The letter did not say why he was resigning, but sources close to Dugan say he intends to challenge DA Larry Krasner in the upcoming Democratic primary election.

Rumors have swirled about his interest in the race for months. Sitting judges are barred from publicly engaging in politics, so Dugan needed to step down before moving to formally launch a campaign. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Dugan is expected to announce his candidacy within weeks, the sources said. Krasner is said to have plans to run again but hasn’t declared that intention publicly.

Others said to have interest in joining the May 20 primary — which in deep-blue Philadelphia typically indicates who will win in November — include defense attorney Charles Gibbs and Kendra McCrae-Kane, a criminal defense lawyer who made an unsuccessful bid for judge in 2019. McCrae-Kane has confirmed she was seriously considering a run for DA, but could not be reached for additional comment Friday.

Dugan, a Philadelphia native, was appointed to the Municipal Court in 2007 by then-Gov. Ed Rendell, and was reelected to a full term two years later. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Superior Court bench last year.

In 2019, he was elected by his peers to serve five years as president judge of Municipal Court, a job in which he oversaw the administrative functions of the lower court in Philadelphia’s two-tier system of criminal and civil courts, managing the scheduling of tens of thousands of cases each year involving crimes, evictions, and civil lawsuits. He was at the helm amid the coronavirus shutdown, navigating some of the most challenging years the courts and prisons systems have ever seen as cases were seriously delayed, backlogged, and transitioned to remote hearings.

“For the past 17 years, I have had the privilege of being in the courtroom, hearing cases that directly impact the lives of the people in Philadelphia,” Dugan wrote in his letter to Shapiro. “My focus has always been on balancing the interests of victims and defendants to ensure fairness and justice for all.”

Dugan spent 23 years serving in the U.S. Army and reserves, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his bio. That experience inspired him to launch Philadelphia’s Veterans Court in 2010 as a place for veterans who were arrested for certain lower-level crimes to receive care and treatment, and, if they meet the requirements, see their charges reduced or withdrawn.

Dugan, the grandson of a Philadelphia firefighter who died in the line of duty, grew up in Frankford, and attended St. Joachim Grammar School and then St. Joseph’s Prep, according to the Northeast Times. He attended Rutgers Camden Law School, and is married to retired Philadelphia police officer Nancy Dugan. Their blended family includes six children and 12 grandchildren.