Joe Khan (D) has worked as a local and federal prosecutor, and recently as the Buck’s County solicitor. Raised in Philadelphia by a Muslim father and Catholic mother, the lawyer says he has built a coalition that connects communities. Some of his priorities are the environment, abortion, public safety, housing, and protecting against insurance and tech companies. A father, he has focused on the effects of social media on kids.

 

CLICK HERE for a full video interview with Joe Khan.

Click here to go to the main Attorney General article where interviews with all 7 candidates can be found.

 

 

 

What is a short job description of the office of attorney general?

Yeah, it's a great question. The way I see it. The Attorney General is someone that is supposed to keep all of Pennsylvanians safe from not just crime, but also corruption and attacks on their rights. And I tell folks, that's the work I've been doing for 24 years. And that's what I want to do is the Attorney General.

 

Why do you qualify to step into the role?

Yeah, I really have unmatched experience in all those areas, as a criminal prosecutor. It's work I did going after sexual assault and domestic violence and child abuse in the Philadelphia DA's office. I took on not just violent crime, but political corruption when I was a federal prosecutor, as well as corporate corruption. That's the work I did in the U.S. attorney's office before the desire to go after corporate greed really inspired me to start a new chapter in civil justice.

And so after six years as a prosecutor, I have since then been going after corporate wrongdoing like we saw with big tech targeting our kids with their algorithms. That's the work that took me to Bucks County, where I became the county solicitor here.

And I'm really proud of all that we did here to protect our environment, to go after all kinds of corporate misconduct. But it's the work I did defending our rights that I'm most proud of. The right to abortion, our right to clean water. And when it came under attack, our right to vote. We stopped Donald Trump back in 2020 when his lawyers and he tried to throw our votes out.

And we didn't just do that here in Bucks. We brought county solicitors together from western Pennsylvania to eastern Pennsylvania and everywhere in between. And we fought Trump in the courts of Common Pleas. We fought them all the way to the United States Supreme Court and we won. And those are the rights that are at stake in this next election. And that's why I'm running.

 

What is something about the current administration you would change and/or keep the same?

So I'll answer both questions by saying that I'm really impressed with the job that Josh Shapiro did, moving the Attorney General's office in the right direction. So, for example, the Attorney General's office now goes after a lot of environmental crimes. And I want to continue doing that work. I just want to think more broadly about environmental justice.

And that's literally why I will change the unit in that office from environmental crimes unit to an environmental justice unit, because I think we need to do more to protect our our planet. Pennsylvania has this really unique environmental rights amendment. It's a super power for an Attorney General that has the vision and experience to use it to protect our right to a clean environment, not just for our kids, but for future generations.

And that's one of the reasons I've been endorsed by the Clean Air Council's political arm as an environmental justice champion. But beyond the new directions that I want to take environmental justice, I want to take on issues that the AG's office isn't really focused on right now. I want to start the first ever housing justice unit here in Pennsylvania to take on a crisis that impacts every community in Pennsylvania rural, urban and suburban.

And by having the unique powers of the AG's office, criminal, civil and consumer protection to take on this issue, I think we have a real opportunity to make people's lives better with a really powerful office.

 

What do you have that your other primary candidates do not?

Yeah. I mean, I not only have the most and the strongest experience in all these areas as a prosecutor and civil justice, I not only have the vision for this office that is inspiring people across Pennsylvania to join our campaign, but I am also the candidate that can win this office. And I think that we have to stop the attacks that will come from the Republican nominee, who will inevitably paint try to paint the Democrat as being soft on crime.

We've seen this happen again and again. It's one of the reasons only two Democrats have ever won this office. But I'm going to do more than just stop those attacks. I am going to close that enthusiasm gap the Democrats are struggling with up and down the ballot. And I'm going to make sure that we win this office and that we help other Democrats running this year as well.

We have had this incredible outpouring of enthusiastic support from people from all walks of life. And our coalition is unique. I'm inspired by the way that people from different generations, different geographic regions and frankly, different ideologies have joined together behind this campaign. And that's not just the way we're going to win the primary. It's going to be how we win the general.

And it's going to be what sets us up to put this office to work for all Pennsylvanians.

 

What is a topic/discussion point around the office of Attorney General and what is your take on it?

I think on day one, the most important issue is going to be defending the 2024 election. You know, we saw this play out in 2020. We, as I said, didn't just defend the election here in Bucks County. We worked really hard to get everyone together. We had a firewall in the Attorney General's office with Josh Shapiro being a great AG who believed in the rule of law and defending democracy.

And the Republicans want that firewall gone. And so we're going to have to get this right immediately. It's not going to be a time for on-the-job training. And so we're going to have to manage this litigation to look out for all the Pennsylvanians whose right to vote is going to be under attack. Because it's not just going to be Rudy Giuliani from the parking lot of the Four Seasons landscaping company in my old neighborhood in northeast Philly, who's going to be calling the shots. They're going to be better prepared this time.

There weren't any election deniers running boards of elections back in 2020. But now they've found comfort in all corners of Pennsylvania. And so we're going to have to get this right for the sake of everyone. And, you know, it's a really personal issue for me because, you know, I've never been allowed to forget how lucky I am to be born in this country.

You know, I am the son of a Pakistani bridge builder who was able to come to this country because there wasn't a president who was calling for a ban on all Muslim immigrants coming to America. And I was raised by a Muslim dad, a Catholic mom in a Jewish neighborhood being taught that we have to look out for everyone.

And that's something that I've been able to do throughout my career. And understanding how to use that ability to build build bridges to different cultures, you know, everywhere I go. You know, I learned from my professor, Barack Obama, back in law school that this was going to be a superpower of mine if I went into public service. And that's what I've been doing for 24 years. It's the work I want to continue doing as our next attorney general.

 

Environmental justice. What does that mean, if you could expand on that?

Yeah. Yes. As we talked about, it's important to not just do what the AG is currently doing, which is prosecuting environmental criminals, people who break criminal statutes by polluting, in violation of the criminal laws. We can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. But I think to rethink this issue in terms of environmental justice means sometimes having to go after government itself.

When government fails the people that are guaranteed a right to a clean environment. So what does that look like? That means that because of that environmental rights amendment, every person in government, from the governor down to a file clerk down in Erie County, right? Every single person in government has to make decisions that protect the rights of the current generations and the future generations.

So if a local government is turning a blind eye to the environmental harms of its citizens, when it makes a decision about where to allow development or where to grant a permit to a gas plant, then in my view, the Attorney General ought to be involved in these fights. This is work that I've done, not just in the public sector, but in the private sector on behalf of grassroots organizations that really have been looking for a champion to stand up for these rights.

So it doesn't matter to me if it's local government, if it's the State Department of Environmental Protection. If government actors aren't looking out for the people, the people are going to have an Attorney General who's going to do something about it.

 

A question that came from our Facebook followers: Why can't we have voter I.D.?

Well, look, those are really issues for the legislature to get right. But what I have always tried to do with the incredible power that I've been given when I've served in these government positions as a county solicitor or as a federal prosecutor is to make sure that all times I acted with integrity. So that people who didn't necessarily like the result of how things turned out- people that I prosecuted for breaking the law, right? People who were contesting an election that maybe didn't go the way that they wanted, but at the end of the day, they would have a sense that they were treated fairly.

And that's one of the reasons here in Bucks County, which is as much like Gary County is a very purple battleground area. Right. With people on both sides of the partizan line with very strong opinions.

Here in Bucks County, when all the dust settled in the 2020 election, you had the chairs of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party coming together to say that Bucks County did things fair and square, that there was no election fraud, that we were transparent. And so even people who had supported Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, agreed that the process was fair. And so I think that my responsibility as Attorney General is to use my platform to give folks a sense of fairness.

And I think that, you know, people can talk about what they think is big threats to election integrity. What I think the great threats are really misinformation and people trying to undermine confidence in our system. And I can tell you that, you know, without voter ID laws, you know, here in Bucks County, we have had no problem whatsoever with election fraud or any kind of undermining of our election integrity because because our folks know what they're doing. So, you know, that's kind of my it's kind of my my take on things.