Democratic Philadelphia state lawmaker joins race for Pennsylvania attorney general

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic state lawmaker Jared Solomon said Tuesday that he will run in next year’s election for Pennsylvania attorney general, an office that has played a big role in fighting drug trafficking, suing opioid makers and defending the battleground state’s 2020 presidential election. Solomon called the GOP impeachment bid an “anti-democratic move to deny the votes of thousands of Philadelphians.” Three other Democrats — former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, former federal prosecutor Joe Kahn and Keir Bradford-Grey, the former head of Philadelphia’s public defense lawyers — already announced their candidacy for the Democratic nomination. The attorney general’s office has a budget of about $120 million annually and has played a critical role in arresting drug traffickers, fighting gun trafficking, defending state laws in court and protecting consumers from predatory practices. It also played a central role in defending the integrity of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election against repeated attempts to overturn it in state and federal courts by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican allies.