3 takeaways from Dave Sunday’s press club appearance

Republican attorney general candidate Dave Sunday made a stop in Harrisburg on Monday as the featured speaker at the Pennsylvania Press Club’s monthly luncheon, where he highlighted taking on the opioid epidemic as York County’s district attorney as emblematic of the on-the-job experience that makes him the best fit to be Pennsylvania’s next AG.

Sunday’s speech comes two months after his general election opponent, Democratic candidate and former state auditor general Eugene DePasquale, appeared at the Pennsylvania Press Club, outlining his stances on abortion and election law, as well as his own investigative background.

Below, City & State rounds up three key takeaways from Sunday’s remarks, including how he feels his experience would translate to the AG’s office, and how he would approach hot-button issues like abortion law and concerns about the 2024 general election results.

1. Sunday highlights experience combating opioid epidemic

The bulk of Sunday’s press club speech focused on his background combating the opioid epidemic as York County DA. He said that when he worked in the DA’s office prior to being elected DA himself, he was assigned to work on overdose cases. “What we discovered was there was an epidemic that was destroying our community. It was destroying families. This is back before the lawsuits – before it was in the news every day, so no one really knew about it. When I saw this happening, it just changed my life,” he said. 

Sunday stressed the importance of prosecuting drug traffickers but said it’s also vital to connect those suffering from addiction to substance abuse treatment options and mental health care when appropriate. 

“We are very good at putting people in jail and convicting people, but at the end of the day, when we look at our community and we realize how important it is that people are safe, we have to do what we can to hold people accountable, but what I also say is redemption,” he said. “Accountability and redemption are the keys to safe communities.”

Sunday also said York County police worked with trained mental health professionals during police calls to connect residents to mental health resources when those residents were deemed to not be a threat to the community. “This can be done all over Pennsylvania, and as attorney general, I will do everything I can to make sure that these initiatives take place all over Pennsylvania,” he said.

2. ‘It’s like a tale of two lawyers’ 

Throughout Pennsylvania’s attorney general race, both major party candidates have underscored their different backgrounds as they look to earn the votes of Pennsylvanians. DePasquale, a former state representative and auditor general, has frequently touted his investigations into state programs and state officials. Sunday, meanwhile, has touted his prosecutorial experience – as he continued to do during his remarks on Monday. 

“I come to this place right here with you guys through that path of being a prosecutor in a courtroom, of applying the facts to the law, of making sure that you know there are no transactions in what we do – what we do is based on the law, the facts and the circumstances,” he said. He added that he and DePasquale are two very different candidates. 

“It’s like a tale of two lawyers. You have one who came through the courthouse to get here, and the other who came through Harrisburg in a lot of different places – and I love Harrisburg, I just wanna make that clear – but those are two vastly different people. They are,” Sunday said.

3. Sunday speaks on abortion law and elections

With abortion access and reproductive rights a driving issue in this year’s election cycle, Sunday was asked about whether he would enforce Pennsylvania law if it were changed to prohibit abortion.

At the onset, Sunday said he would enforce existing Pennsylvania law. “In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal through the first six months of pregnancy, and then after that, there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother,” he said. “As the attorney general, I absolutely, without question, would enforce and defend that law, period.” Sunday also said he thinks it’s unlikely that Pennsylvania’s abortion statute will change.

He also stressed that he would not prosecute women for getting abortions in the commonwealth: “There is no set of circumstances that exist where I would ever prosecute a woman for getting an abortion. It would never happen.”

During the Q&A portion of his appearance, Sunday was also asked about the 2020 and 2024 elections. “With regard to this upcoming election, my position has never changed on this fact, even going back to 2020. In 2020, I put out a public service announcement – and you can Google it – where the police chiefs in York County and I looked directly at a camera and we said, ‘Listen, it doesn’t matter who you support, it doesn’t matter who you want to win, it doesn’t matter if your person wins or loses, but we expect everyone to behave appropriately. We expect everyone to treat each other with respect, and if that doesn’t happen, then we’re going to hold you accountable.’”

He added: “Am I concerned? I guess we’ll just have to all watch it happen together. But at the end of the day, regardless of who wins or loses, the other side has to accept it, and we have to move on. Period.”