Six months after getting kicked out of Philly’s election day lunch, Larry Krasner got his mac and cheese
The district attorney and labor leader Ryan Boyer exchanged pleasantries on Tuesday after getting into a spat at the spring election day lunch.
Six months later, Larry Krasner finally got his mac and cheese.
In May, the district attorney, a progressive Democrat, was kicked out of the biannual election day lunch at South Restaurant & Jazz Club after getting into a spat with labor leader Ryan Boyer, the host of the event that draws hundreds of politicos and elected officials. Krasner lamented that day that Boyer, whom he called “Lyin’ Ryan,” owed him campaign contributions — and that he didn’t even get to enter the restaurant to get a plate of soul food.
Krasner attended the lunch event again on Tuesday, but this time, there was considerably less public infighting.
The district attorney ate a plate of mac and cheese, and he politely greeted fellow elected officials, including Council President Kenyatta Johnson and members of the Philadelphia delegation in Harrisburg.
» READ MORE: Philly DA Larry Krasner got kicked out of election day lunch after clashing with union leader Ryan Boyer
Krasner is not on the ballot this year — he won his third term in office in landslide fashion last year. But Philadelphia’s top prosecutor has been mired in controversy in recent months, and he is under investigation by the Department of Justice after a federal judge said that he and a top deputy may have committed crimes in the course of handling a complex post-conviction case.
On Tuesday, as he scooped food onto his plate, Krasner acknowledged that the political luncheon isn’t typically his scene. Attendees included Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, and a bevy of other Democrats — and Krasner, as he put it, spends most of his time talking to political “outsiders.”
“But,” he added Tuesday, “I also think it’s important to stop by and say hello to the insiders.”
On his way out of the event, the prosecutor shook hands with Boyer, a political centrist and the head of the politically influential Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. When Krasner ran for reelection last year, the conglomerate of labor unions backed his primary challenger.
The pair privately exchanged pleasantries, and Krasner was on his way.
After Krasner departed, Boyer said that the two had defused tensions and could be an example to others of how to “move on.”
“I was never mad,” Boyer said. “Adults can agree to disagree.”
