PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - Former Philadelphia prosecutor Dan McCaffery has dropped out of the race to become Pennsylvania's next attorney general.

In a statement to PoliticsPA, McCaffery said he reached the "inescapable conclusion" this past weekend he could not continue his bid.

He cited the "configuration" of the race and "economic circumstances of the time."

He said the state's Democratic Party also needed to be more unified if it was going to win the office.

Republicans have held the office since 1980.

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy and former Lackawanna County prosecutor Kathleen Kane are the only Democrats who remain. They will face each other in the April primary.

Whoever wins will most likely face Republican state Sen. John Rafferty, who Gov. Tom Corbett, a former attorney general himself, is backing for the job.

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.