DA Larry Krasner says Dugan is ‘at war with the truth’ and lied when he said he wouldn’t accept Republican nomination

District Attorney Larry Krasner called it.

From the first time Krasner publicly debated his then-Democratic primary opponent Patrick F. Dugan, the progressive prosecutor questioned his challenger’s ties to local Republicans and cornered him into denouncing President Donald J. Trump.

Leading up to the May primary election, Krasner repeatedly touted his dedication to resisting Republicans — and signaled that Dugan was secretly one of them.

Dugan and his team dismissed the accusations, going so far as to say that, even amid a GOP write-in campaign to hand him the Republican nomination, the lifelong Democrat would not accept the nod and run.

Until Saturday — when the former Municipal Court judge announced that he would, in fact, face off against Krasner in the general election as a Republican.

Krasner on Monday, in his first statements since the announcement, said that confirmed what he had said all along about Dugan and his new party: “They are at war with the truth.”

“If it looks like I’m going around in circles, I am, because this don’t make no sense,” Krasner said in a video shared across his social media accounts. “But then again, what does make sense about the Trump-led Republican party?”

“Let’s stand up, not just here, but all over the country, to this kind of debasement, this kind of undermining of our election process,” he said.

Dugan, in response, said he was not running for a political party, but for the residents of the city Krasner had failed.

“I did not run for the Democratic Party in May and I am not running for the Republican Party in November,” he said. “I ran and I am running for all Philadelphians, all victims of crime, our children, all neighborhoods held hostage by Krasner’s failed policies — regardless of their party.”

Dugan said he remains a registered Democrat, and doesn’t intend to change that despite accepting the GOP nomination.

“I won the right to be on ballot in the general election and I have accepted the voters wishes after a long deliberation,” he said, adding that he reconsidered his initial stance after residents from both parties asked him to.

“Now I am labeled the liar when Krasner has been lying to Philadelphia for eight years,” he said. “This race is Dugan v. Krasner — common sense v. radical non-prosecutor, not Democrat v Republican."

Krasner used his video Monday to drum up support for his campaign, which in recent months had fallen to a lull after he handily defeated Dugan by 29 percentage points in the May primary election. No Republican had filed to run against him, and so he prepared to coast toward a sure win.

But rumors of the Philly GOP’s interests in a write-in campaign began to swirl in the weeks ahead of the primary. The effort proved successful as more than 6,100 voters wrote Dugan in as the Republican nominee — six times the total needed to qualify for a spot on the general election ballot.

Still, Dugan said he would not accept the nomination. His campaign manager, Dan Kalai, said Dugan “has never had any interest in running as a Republican, nor has he discussed it.” (Kalai no longer works on Dugan’s campaign. It was not immediately clear who has taken over in his place.)

Philly’s GOP didn’t take no for an answer. Local Republican Party Chair Vince Fenerty said he hoped that Dugan would reconsider, and last month, the GOP City Committee was polling residents on whether they would vote for Dugan in November.

On Saturday, Dugan announced that he would reenter the race.

“I cannot stand by and allow Mr. Krasner’s failed policies to continue to hold our city hostage,” he said in announcing his decision. “Every Philadelphian has a real choice this fall, and I believe they will stand with me for common sense and safety.”

Bob Brady, chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, called it a “total disgrace.”

“He’s got zero integrity. Zero,” Brady said, adding that he doesn’t “need liars in our party.”

Fenerty, Brady’s GOP counterpart, praised Dugan’s decision, saying “it’s a big mountain to climb but it’s achievable.”

Dugan is a retired paratrooper who served in the Army for 23 years. He resigned from his position as a judge earlier this year to run for district attorney.