The Pa. Attorney General’s race is getting even messier with a new contender

The Republican primary for Pennsylvania attorney general, already a messy affair, will add a new contender come Monday, Clout hears.

Katayoun “Kat” Copeland, a career prosecutor and former Delaware County district attorney, is expected to declare her candidacy then.

Copeland on Thursday afternoon registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State a political action committee called “Kat Copeland For PA,” saying she intends to run for attorney general. The PAC listed former acting Attorney General William H. Ryan Jr. as chair.

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Copeland worked as an assistant district attorney from 1992 to 2011, when she became a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia.

She was appointed district attorney in 2018 by the Delaware County Board of Judges to fill a vacancy when John J. Whelan became a judge.

Copeland lost her 2019 bid for a full four-year term to Jack Stollsteimer in a blue-wave election that saw Democrats take control of the county government.

Stollsteimer, who just won a second term last week, is considered an imminent candidate in the Democratic primary for attorney general.

Copeland, who did not respond to Clout’s hails, went back to work as a federal prosecutor after the 2019 election.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told Clout Copeland resigned her post in the National Security and Cybercrime unit on Wednesday.

We hear Brian Nutt, a political consultant who ran Tom Corbett’s campaign for attorney general, will be helming her bid. Corbett, a Republican, went on to serve one term as governor.

Copeland’s one-time boss, former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain, had been considering a run for attorney general but told Clout this week that he is staying out of the race.

McSwain, who ran for governor in last year’s Republican primary, said he did not know Copeland’s plans but offered this: “I think there will be several strong candidates in the Republican primary, but I know that Kat Copeland would be a terrific Attorney General.”

We call the GOP primary for attorney general messy because of a fight that broke out in late September about a purported looming endorsement from the Republican Attorneys General Association.

That group on Monday endorsed York County District Attorney Dave Sunday after a rhetorical tussle with State Rep. Craig Williams.

RAGA called Pennsylvania “an excellent opportunity to flip” the post.

Democrats have controlled the office since 2013.

“RAGA has demonstrated, through strategic and early investments of the last few election cycles, its ability to flip seats from blue to red,” Peter Bisbee, RAGA’s executive director, wrote in the endorsement.

Bisbee was incensed in late September when Williams, who represents parts of Delaware and Chester Counties, emailed Republican State Committee members ahead of the party’s fall meeting to describe his meeting with RAGA and confidence that the group would endorse him.

Bisbee wrote his own email to committee members, knocking Williams as “very moderate, unprincipled and opportunistic,” while suggesting he had closed off a shot at an endorsement.

Williams chalked that up at the time to “Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. insiders — those who continue to lose elections.”

He told Clout on Monday he still plans to enter the race but had not heard about the RAGA endorsement.

Sunday, in a statement about the endorsement, said he and RAGA “share the common goal of protecting the Constitution, freedom, and ensuring opportunity for future generations.”

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.

State Rep. Chris Rabb’s long-running fight with establishment Democrats in Northwest Philadelphia quietly entered a new phase last month when he registered an exploratory committee for a potential U.S. House run next year.

That could put Rabb on a collision course with U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, who served 36 years in the state House before winning a seat in Congress in 2016.

Rumors have been swirling about Evans not seeking a fifth term. Evans told Clout this week he’ll be on the ballot next year.

Redistricting last year drew Rabb into a primary with former State Rep. Isabella Fitzgerald, a former Evans staffer who took his seat in the House when he moved up to Congress.

Rabb prevailed, despite support for Fitzgerald from Evans, building trades unions and the local Democratic Party.

Rabb was happy to talk about progressive wins in Philly this year but declined to comment on what motivated his new congressional committee. He got an early jump on his campaign for a fifth term in the House’s 200th district, declaring his candidacy in September.

“This was specifically to help fellow progressives and to remind folks that I’m not complacent in my efforts for reelection,” Rabb said. “I can’t afford to be flat-footed as folks might consider challenging me.”

Evans was Evans about it, barely acknowledging Rabb’s existence.

“Anybody has the right to do what they want to do,” Evans said while rattling off a list of policy and political priorities — wars in Ukraine and Israel, the economy, helping President Joe Biden win a second term. “I have done everything I can to focus on what’s important.”

Staff Writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.

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