Pennsylvania Republicans have an early, nasty fight in 2024 primary for attorney general

The Pennsylvania Republican Party’s fall meeting last weekend was planned to be all about unity in preparation for 2024.

And then a nasty fight broke out.

State Rep. Craig Williams emailed Republican State Committee members ahead of the meeting, announcing that he would become a candidate for attorney general after this year’s general election.

Williams, who represents parts of Delaware and Chester Counties, added that he met last week with the Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA) and felt “confident after discussing my qualifications” with the group that he would “earn a top investment.”

RAGA responded with outrage.

Peter Bisbee, RAGA’s executive director, accused Williams in an email to committee members Friday of making “a misleading and inaccurate representation” about the meeting.

RAGA, he added, made no endorsement.

“In fact, it is now quite the opposite,” wrote Bisbee, who said the organization found Williams to be “very moderate, unprincipled and opportunistic.”

Williams punched back Friday in a second email, suggesting that committee members should be “disgusted” by RAGA’s response, adding that it “smells entirely like the Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. insiders — those who continue to lose elections.”

Williams, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and former prosecutor, told Clout his RAGA meeting was “very amicable” and the group’s response surprised him by being “so over the top and atypical of a national organization.”

“I believe it’s the inside-Harrisburg culture trying to put their thumb on the scale,” he said, suggesting RAGA might have been acting on behalf of the only Republican candidate declared for attorney general, York County District Attorney David Sunday.

Bisbee did not respond to Clout’s hails.

A Sunday spokesperson said nobody from the campaign, including the candidate, communicated with RAGA about Williams.

The Republican Party last Saturday unanimously endorsed former hedge fund manager David McCormick in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Scranton Democrat, along with state Treasurer Stacey Garrity and state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor.

Garrity and DeFoor are seeking second terms. Winning the Attorney General’s Office next year would give Republicans control of all the state “row offices.”

Democrats have held the Attorney General’s Office since 2013. Josh Shapiro used that office last year to win the race for governor.

Four Democrats — State Rep. Jared Solomon of Philadelphia, former Bucks County Solicitor Joe Khan, former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, and former Philadelphia top public defender Keir Bradford-Grey — are also seeking the office.

Disgraced former Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams apologized eight times while being sentenced by a federal judge six years ago after halting his trial on corruption charges to plead guilty.

Williams, sentenced to five years in prison, celebrated the end of his term on supervised release last weekend with a trip to the beach and a total rewrite of his criminal history.

Old version: He “squandered” the trust of the city, his friends and family.

New version: The feds and the Catholic Church ganged up on him.

Williams, writing on the social media platform previously known as Twitter, posted a picture of himself standing at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in an “It’s a Philly thing” Eagles T-shirt, arms spread wide. His first trip to the beach since 2016, he posted.

“I can tell the truth now without fear of repercussions,” Williams continued. “Ninety percent of ALL federal cases are vindictive personality driven cases without victims and targeted.”

Williams then claimed the feds “took me out” with charges that he had diverted money meant to pay for his mother’s care at a nursing home run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“There is NO coincidence that I was the first DA to prosecute the hierarchy of the Catholic Church for shielding pedophile priests and they concocted charges against me related to my mom’s nursing home operated by the Catholic Church,” Williams posted.

A few commenters urged Williams, who was disbarred in 2017, to run again for district attorney.

Williams told Clout on Monday that “all I have learned in the last six years would make me an even better district attorney” but that he hopes former City Councilmember Derek Green runs for that office in 2025.

State law requires district attorneys to be licensed to practice law.

Williams told Clout he has been eligible since last year to seek reinstatement as a lawyer but was waiting until the end of his federal supervision and now plans to do that.

Williams said he should have reported all the gifts he received in office but had “zero criminal intent” when accepting them.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics fined Williams $62,000 in 2017 for failing to report more than $175,000 in gifts from wealthy benefactors, including cash, luxury goods, and travel to vacation resorts.

Williams told Clout he is writing a book to tell “the complete story, not just the narrative that was sold to the public by the feds.”

The attempt by Philadelphia’s Republican City Committee to knock off November’s ballot Working Families Party Councilmember Kendra Brooks and her running mate, Nicolas O’Rourke, came to a quiet end Monday.

The Republicans did not appeal a Commonwealth Court ruling two weeks ago that found they were still qualified candidates despite signing their statements of financial interest electronically and not with a pen or pencil.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.