Two Montgomery County residents won the Democratic and Republican primaries for Pennsylvania attorney general Tuesday and will face each other in the fall for the right to succeed Kathleen Kane, the embattled incumbent who opted not to seek re-election.
On the Democratic side, Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro outlasted Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala.
With 93 percent of precincts reporting at 11:50 p.m., Shapiro secured 659,897 votes (47 percent) compared to Zappala's 524,918 votes (37 percent), according to unofficial results. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli came in a distant third with 220,689 (16 percent) of the votes.
A short time later, Zappala conceded to Shapiro, 42, a lawyer and former state representative form Abington. He had the backing of Gov. Tom Wolf and President Barack Obama.
On the GOP side, John Rafferty, a state senator from Montgomery County, crushed his opponent, Joe Peters, a former Scranton police officer and federal prosecutor. Rafferty captured 731,434 votes (64 percent) compared with Peters' 415,681 (36 percent) in unofficial results.
"I am extremely honored and excited to be the Republican nominee for the office of attorney general," Rafferty, 63, said in a statement.
"I'm honored to have earned the support of voters from every corner of our commonwealth and to be the Democratic nominee for attorney general," Shapiro said in a statement late Tuesday.
"I want to thank John Morganelli and Steve Zappala for putting their names on the ballot and running a hard-fought race," he said. "It's time to use this office to be a voice for the voiceless, to be a progressive force for change and to make our communities safer. That's what I'll do as your attorney general."
Shapiro's and Rafferty's wins show the growing electoral might candidates from the heavily populated Philadelphia suburbs can have over other candidates. Despite having more experience as a prosecutor and coming from heavily Democratic Allegheny County, Zappala could not overcome Shapiro's name recognition in the Philadelphia suburbs, which are trending Democratic in statewide elections.
The winner of the Nov. 8 general election will earn $158,764 and inherit an office beset with controversy.
The attorney general's office, the state's top criminal and civil law enforcement agency, is rife with internal bickering, power struggles, feuds and lawsuits.
Kane, the first woman and Democrat to win election to the post of top law enforcement officer, had her law license suspended by the Supreme Court after she was charged with perjury for allegedly lying under oath about a grand jury leak. That suspension caused the Senate to consider, but ultimately back down from, a vote to remove Kane from office under a rare constitutional provision.
The House, on the other hand, still has open an impeachment inquiry related to Kane's suspension and other agency problems, some of which are detailed in federal and state civil lawsuits.
Kane and other top staffers have been sued multiple times by current and former agency workers who claimed she abused her power by firing or disciplining them for criticizing her decisions or her administration.
Kane also got wrapped up in a never-ending battle over inappropriate emails her administration unearthed on agency computers during its review of her predecessor's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse investigation. While claiming she wanted the public to see every email that depicted sexual or racial messages, Kane's office successfully blocked media attempts to gain access to the records under the Right to Know Law.
At the same time, Kane's political surrogate parsed out inappropriate emails sent and received by Republican Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin, leading to another judicial probe and his retirement from the bench.
During her tenure, Kane also got into heated public fights with Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and officials with the Pennsylvania State Police.
Whoever wins in November is going to have to mend fences in and out of the office and also bring in their own team, Morganelli said Tuesday in conceding his loss.
"I believe any of these fellows who would be elected will probably do that," he said.
In his statement, Rafferty hinted at the agency's strife.
"This is just the first step, albeit an important one, in my quest to reshape and reform the office of attorney general," he said. "I promise to restore credibility and public confidence to the office of attorney general."
Rafferty, a four-term senator who also worked previously as a private attorney and state prosecutor, was the first candidate out of the gate for either party. An unabashed, longtime supporter of law enforcement as a member of the Senate, Rafferty announced his candidacy in June 2015 amid a phalanx of unionized police officers and first-responders. He won endorsements early from the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, state chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and firefighters unions.
Peters' candidacy seemingly came out of the blue in late 2015, more than a year after he resigned as a spokesman for Kane, so he never was a real threat to Rafferty, who also had the support of the state Republican Party.
"I am proud of the strong effort my team and I generated across the state as we took on the GOP establishment and an opponent who had already been endorsed by the state Republican Party," Peters, 59, said.
The more competitive race from start to finish was on the Democratic side.
Morganelli, 60, the state's longest-tenured county prosecutor and an early critic of Kane's, was the first Democrat to enter the race. He touted his courtroom experience, saying he is the only candidate to personally prosecute a case.
But Morganelli, who lost elections for the attorney general post in 2000, 2004 and 2008, knew he faced an uphill battle to win in a three-way primary this year.
The Lehigh Valley is not known for electing candidates to statewide office. The electorate living in and around Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown rarely join forces to support a native son or daughter for higher office and they do not treat elective politics as a blood sport like voters in Philadelphia and the Scranton regions do.
"I've been a student of politics and I knew running against a guy from Pittsburgh and a guy from Philadelphia [area] and with me being from the Lehigh Valley ... I figured that's where it would end up," Morganelli said.
But Morganelli came out swinging against Shapiro. In debates and news conferences, Morganelli repeatedly attacked Shapiro, calling him a politician who had never used his law degree to try a criminal or civil case in court and who knowingly took campaign contributions from companies doing business in Montgomery County.
Shapiro responded by accusing Morganelli of being in cahoots with Zappala in an effort to split the Democratic vote in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Morganelli and Zappala denied the charge.
Morganelli raised $704,966, most of which he carried over from his county district attorney campaign fund, and spent $360,835.
Zappala had $501,900 in cash and raised an additional $1.1 million and spent about $1.5 million through April 11, state campaign finance records show.
Shapiro raised about $2.7 million, which includes $1.2 million he transferred from his old state representative campaign fund. He spent about $1.6 million.
All told, the three Democrats raised $4.5 million and spent $3.5 million.
Rafferty raised $328,285 and spent $120,931. Peters raised $27,550 and spent $16,620.
(c)2016 The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
