More than 90 candidates filed to be on Philly’s May 16 primary ballot for mayor, City Council, and row offices

Philadelphia politicians have been campaigning for public office for months now, but Tuesday marked the day they — maybe — became official candidates.

Welcome to petition day, the first stress test ahead of the May 16 primary election.

More than 90 candidates for citywide office — mayor, city controller, sheriff, register of wills, City Council — dropped off nominating paperwork at City Hall, and while the parade of candidates passed steadily throughout the day, no one was seen pounding on the door of the county election board at the 5 p.m. deadline.

The final list included 13 mayoral candidates, more than 60 contenders for City Council, four candidates for Philadelphia sheriff, and six for Register of Wills.

Primaries are action-packed in Philadelphia, where the 7-1 Democratic voter edge all but guarantees victors will win the general election. But this year, the stakes are even higher. Voters will choose the city’s 100th mayor and elect at least eight Council members to their first full term, amid unprecedented turnover in City Hall.

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“I don’t even recognize some of these names,” said Sherrie Cohen, a Democrat running for an at-large City Council seat for the third time. “It’s wonderful. It shows faith in our democracy.”

Candidates for citywide office needed to file nomination petitions with at least 1,000 signatures from voters who are eligible to vote in the May 16 primary election. Candidates for City Council’s 10 district seats had to file at least 750 signatures.

Each petition season, especially one with as many candidates as this year, reveals at least a few cases of sloppy paperwork or attempts to submit forged signatures.

Challenges must be filed by next Tuesday and could take weeks to shake out.

Here’s how each race is shaping up, at least for now:

Twelve Democrats filed nominating paperwork for the city’s top job Tuesday, along with one Republican, former Councilmember David Oh.

With no clear front-runner in the race, petition season was a good time for candidates to tout their support.

Dropping off more than the required number of signatures is a common political flex — and a good way to withstand potential legal challenges.

On Tuesday afternoon, Democratic mayoral candidate and former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart first said she delivered more than 8,000 signatures, but later had announced that the number was 9,600 — nearly 10 times the minimum.

Former City Councilmember Helen Gym tweeted that she had submitted more than 6,000 signatures in her bid for mayor and said voters signed on “because they share our vision for safer neighborhoods, stronger schools, and prosperous communities.”

State Rep. Amen Brown, another mayoral hopeful, said he filed 160 pages’ worth of signatures but didn’t count them all — and not every slot on every page had a signature. “It was thousands,” Brown said.

Among the Democrats who filed petitions were other well-established contenders: former Councilmembers Maria Quiñones Sánchez, Derek Green, Cherelle Parker, and Allan Domb; grocer Jeff Brown; and former Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon.

Twenty-nine Democrats filed to run for the party’s five at-large seats on City Council. Hold on to your bib — because that’s not even close to a record for the most crowded race.

But this year’s competition was supercharged when three Democratic incumbent at-large Council members — Gym, Domb, and Green — resigned in recent months to run for mayor.

Thirty-four Democrats filed for at-large seats in 2019. The record for most crowded race goes to the 1979 election, when 101 Democrats appeared on the ballot, followed by 1983, when 57 Democrats ran at-large.

Elected by voters citywide, five of Council’s at-large seats have been a historic lock for Democrats, while two are reserved for minority-party members. But with high turnover last year, only three at-large incumbents — Isaiah Thomas, Katherine Gilmore-Richardson, and Jimmy Harrity — filed to run, confirming at least two new vacancies.

Many of their challengers have been making the rounds for months, but a handful of politically unknown contenders also showed up to file petitions.

While district Council members typically face fewer challengers, incumbents are also being challenged in seven of 10 Council districts. One of the most hotly watched races is in the 5th District, where voters will pick a replacement for Council President Darrell L. Clarke.

Just two weeks after Clarke announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection — effectively ending his 25-year run as one of the most powerful figures in City Hall — there are now seven Democrats waiting to pick up his torch. The district includes much of North Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion, Brewerytown, Fishtown, parts of Center City, and the area around Temple University.

As expected, Clarke’s former chief of staff Curtis Wilkerson submitted petitions Tuesday, as did attorney Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., Aissia Richardson, a staffer for State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Phila.) and small-business owner Jon Hankins Jr.

Challengers also lined up against incumbent Councilmembers Kenyatta Johnson, Cindy Bass, Curtis Jones, and Jamie Gauthier.

Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, a Democrat seeking a second four-year term after running in 2019 on a promise to reform the office, will face three primary challengers. Michael Untermeyer, an attorney and real estate investor, said he contributed $250,000 to his campaign Tuesday.

That will trigger the “millionaire’s provision” in the city’s campaign finance law, doubling allowable contributions to $6,200 for individuals and $25,200 for political action committees. Untermeyer spent $1.3 million to run for district attorney in 2017, finishing fifth in that Democratic primary.

Jackie Miles, director of security for the Washington Wizards NBA franchise, is also challenging Bilal. Miles worked as a corrections officer in Montgomery County and Philadelphia before becoming a deputy sheriff in the 1990s.

Bilal is endorsed by the Democratic City Committee, but her opponents are criticizing her for scandals she’s faced in her first term.

Tuesday also marks the start of the weeklong span when competitors parse the petitions, looking for ways to file legal challenges to keep candidates off the ballot. Those challenges must be filed by next Tuesday.

Another stress test awaits candidates on Wednesday, when they will draw numbers from a decades-old Horn & Hardart coffee can to determine their placement on the primary ballot. In crowded races for judge and Council at-large, some political observers say bad billing can break a campaign, while the No. 1 seed can make a nobody into a viable candidate.

Surviving petition challenges and scoring a primo spot at the top of the ballot? It’s the kind of week that can make candidates superstitious.

“I got a lucky shamrock I’ll take with me — and it’s my 30th birthday this month,” said Jalon Alexander, a Democrat running for City Council at-large, “so I’m feeling pretty good.”