Meet the candidates running for Philadelphia City Council president

City Council has undergone enormous changes over the last few years, but the biggest one will come in January when a new leader takes over for retiring Council President Darrell L. Clarke.

Clarke led the chamber for 12 years, and his decision not to run for reelection — coupled with the end of Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration — means there will be a sea change in City Hall next year.

Council’s 17 members will vote on who will be president at the first meeting of 2024, and the race to replace Clarke has already begun.

» READ MORE: Inside the race to replace City Council President Darrell L. Clarke

The next Council will be remarkably inexperienced, with at least 12 members having served one term or less. The three lawmakers who are seen as contenders for the presidency are all Democrats who have previously served more than one term.

Here’s what you need to know about the candidates for Council president.

Johnson, 49, is a third-term member whose 2nd District includes Southwest Philadelphia and South Philadelphia west of Broad Street.

A lifelong Point Breeze resident, Johnson has said he turned his back on the streets after his cousin was murdered in 1998 by becoming an anti-violence activist and founding the group Peace Not Guns.

» READ MORE: From a family tragedy to City Hall, how Kenyatta Johnson rose to power before his corruption trial

Through that work, Johnson became involved in the political organization led by State Sen. Tony Williams (D., Philadelphia). He was a state representative before joining Council in 2013.

Johnson’s district has seen significant gentrification during his tenure, and he has prevailed against high-profile challengers in his reelection campaigns.

Johnson is running for Council president in the wake of his high-profile acquittal last year on federal bribery charges. Prosecutors alleged he took official action to help a charter school operator in exchange for a consulting job for his wife.

The ordeal does not appear to be a significant hindrance to Johnson’s changes of winning the presidency. His colleagues on Council largely stood by him during the case, and some criticized the prosecution after he was acquitted.

Jones, 65, is currently majority leader, Council’s No. 2 position. He represents the 4th District, which stretches across the Schuylkill from Overbrook to Roxborough.

A West Philadelphia native, Jones has said he was in a gang when he was a teenager, but his life turned around in high school when he converted to Islam and became involved with the House of Umoja community organization.

He got his start in politics as an antiestablishment activist and worked closely with Chaka Fattah, who went on to become a powerful member of Congress before being convicted on federal corruption charges.

Before he was elected to Council in 2007, Jones led the Minority Business Enterprise Council and the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp.

Jones, who is in his fourth term, has a mixed record in leadership elections. He served one term as majority leader from 2012 to 2016 before falling out favor with Clarke and being replaced by Bobby Henon.

Henon was indicted on federal corruption charges in 2019, and Cherelle Parker unseated him in the January 2020 majority leader race.

Parker then resigned last year to run for mayor, and Clarke helped elevate Jones to majority leader once again. Parker is now poised to become the next mayor after winning the Democratic primary in May.

Squilla, 60, is a former computer programmer who worked for 25 years in the state auditor general’s office. He represents the 1st District, which runs along the Delaware River from Pennsport to Port Richmond.

He got involved in local politics in the 1990s after organizing his South Philadelphia neighbors to help save their community park, Burke Playground. He later served as president of the Whitman Council neighborhood group.

A Mummer and a former Jersey Shore lifeguard, Squilla is the only Italian American on Council. He joined a controversial lawsuit against the city in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration from renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.

Squilla is a consensus-builder with few enemies on Council, and many see his path to victory as a compromise candidate if neither Jones nor Johnson can secure a majority.