DA Larry Krasner publicly criticized Mayor Cherelle Parker as he flirts with running for her office

District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday that, in the more than two years since Mayor Cherelle L. Parker was sworn in, he has only met with her three times.

And despite his visit to her City Hall office on Monday in what Krasner described as “the spirit of hopeful collaboration,” that number did not grow to four.

The district attorney, along with a phalanx of staff and television cameras, walked across the street from his downtown office to the mayor’s suite on the second floor of City Hall, armed with a letter lamenting his budget as inadequate. In it, Krasner wrote that he needs an additional $5.6 million from the city to bolster shootings investigations, domestic violence prosecutions, and victim services.

Asked why he was delivering a letter to Parker in person, Krasner said: “There is nothing new and nothing inappropriate about civil rights leaders, activists, and politicians getting the word out.”

The mayor did not open her door. Krasner pushed his letter through a mail slot.

The public plea came just days after City Council gave the green light to a city budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, including a record-high $62.4 million allocation to the District Attorney’s Office, which is about $3 million more than it received last year.

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Krasner, who called a news conference at the district attorney’s office before his trip to City Hall, said his office needs additional funding to “prevent potential layoffs,” but he did not specify the number of jobs on the line. The city budget will be up for a final vote in Council on Thursday, and it is unlikely to substantially change before then.

In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the mayor shared data showing that the District Attorney’s Office budget has increased by 55% over the last five years.

Krasner’s televised appeal to Parker on Monday came as rumors swirl that the third-term progressive may run for mayor next year when Parker, a centrist Democrat, is up for reelection. He has also been floated by political observers as a potential candidate for U.S. Senate to run for the seat currently held by Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who has angered many in the party and will be up for reelection in 2028.

Krasner, who is the city’s most prominent progressive and who won reelection to be the city’s top prosecutor last year, said he is not plotting another run for office.

But he has done little to suppress the speculation. He recently got into a spat with labor leader Ryan N. Boyer, one of Parker’s closest political allies, and he publicly called on former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the longtime chair of the city’s Democratic Party, to step aside.

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And on Monday, Krasner, who was reelected to a third term in November, wouldn’t commit to serving out his entire four-year term. (Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter requires that city officeholders resign to run for higher office.)

“Am I running for these offices today? No. Do I have a plan to run for these offices today? No,” Krasner said. “But if you’re asking me to say that I would never, under any circumstance, no matter what was going on locally or nationally, consider some other office, it would be foolish for me to completely rule out those possibilities.”

He is one of several people who progressive leaders in the city may look to next year to challenge Parker, who is backed by much of the city’s Democratic establishment and organized labor. She has been criticized by some on the left for her law enforcement-driven initiatives to address the Kensington drug market and her cautious approach to President Donald Trump.

The mayor’s race became even more attractive to Philadelphia’s left-wing faction of the Democratic Party last month after State Rep. Chris Rabb, a democratic socialist, won the party’s nomination for an open seat in Congress.

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Krasner’s public criticism of Parker this week is also notable because he and the mayor have, despite not meeting regularly, attempted to maintain a veneer of civility.

While Parker ran for office on a tough-on-crime message that could be seen as in tension with the district attorney’s progressive platform, she has not directly criticized Krasner. She also campaigned on a promise of close collaboration with other governmental entities after conflict between Krasner and former Mayor Jim Kenney spilled into public view on several occasions.

Krasner on Monday insisted that his trip across the street to Parker’s office was not intended to inflame hostilities. He cited his letter, which began with thanking the mayor for her “leadership, vision, and goals.”

The letter ended with Krasner saying that the city’s leaders should “truly model the peace and unity we hope to see within our communities.”

He added: “We can achieve more together!”

Staff writer Ellie Rushing contributed to this article.