The Republican candidate defeated Democrat Eugene DePasquale to become the Commonwealth’s top prosecutor.
At 3:18am on Wednesday morning, the Associated Press called the Pennsylvania Attorney General race.
Republican York County District Attorney Dave Sunday won the race against former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, his Democratic challenger. Election returns showed Sunday with 50.85% of the vote, and DePasquale taking 46.18%.
At his election party in York, Sunday reacted to his win. “I’m so excited for this opportunity. … I can’t even believe it guys, to be honest. I’m just so amazed.”
Sunday’s campaign highlighted his plan to promote greater public safety across Pennsylvania, as well as his goal of combatting the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Sunday said, “I just want to say, I take this job very, very seriously. And every single Pennsylvanian will be my constituent – every single one. And I will work unbelievably hard to do everything I can to keep Pennsylvanians safe, to attack the opioid epidemic, the mental health crisis, and all the things I discussed on this campaign.”
DePasquale called Sunday on the phone to congratulate him on his victory. He said, “Dave worked hard and earned this victory.”
Newly elected Sunday is a career prosecutor who has served as district attorney in York County since 2018. Sunday performed well across many of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Over 70% of voters in Juniata, Fulton, and Bedford counties cast ballots for Sunday.
In Allegheny County, Sunday took only 38.34% of the vote with DePasquale claiming 58.60%. He pulled ahead in Bucks County at 51.84%. In Montgomery and Chester counties, he secured 40.96% and 46.03% respectively.
In a successful election for Republicans, Donald Trump won the battleground state of Pennsylvania. He fell short in Allegheny, Montgomery, and Chester counties, but was ahead of Harris by 0.3 points in Bucks County. Republican challenger Dave McCormick took a critical seat and ousted incumbent Senator Bob Casey with a total vote of 49% to 48.5%.
In 2020, now Governor Josh Shapiro won the attorney general election with 50.85% of the vote. Former attorneys general Tom Corbett, a Republican, and Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, both went on to make successful bids for governor of Pennsylvania.
