Bill Golderer to run for Seventh District seat
WASHINGTON - Bill Golderer, a pastor who has founded or revitalized two Philadelphia churches, is running for Congress in the Delaware County-based Seventh District, hoping to win the Democratic nomination and take on the incumbent Republican, Rep. Patrick Meehan.
WASHINGTON - Bill Golderer, a pastor who has founded or revitalized two Philadelphia churches, is running for Congress in the Delaware County-based Seventh District, hoping to win the Democratic nomination and take on the incumbent Republican, Rep. Patrick Meehan.
Golderer, 45, has never run for office. In an interview Monday, he said public service would be "an evolution of my current work trying to see if I can make a difference in a body that I think a lot of people have written off as being kind of dysfunctional."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recruited Golderer to run, despite already having two other candidates for a moderate district that leans Republican.
Golderer grew up in Wayne and returned to the Philadelphia area to found Broad Street Ministry in a long vacant church across from the Kimmel Center. The church has emphasized serving the needy, bringing nonprofits together under its roof to collaborate on social services. He is also the senior pastor at the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, which he built up after its membership had dwindled.
"I am a faith leader, but I also have the heart and spirit of a social entrepreneur," he said, describing himself as "a serial starter and beginner of things."
National Democrats praised his entry into the race. "We are confident that using this same passion, focus and dedication he will be a strong voice in Congress," said Jermaine House, a spokesman for Democrats' congressional campaign arm.
Recent Princeton University graduate Lindy Li and La Salle University political science professor Mary Ellen Balchunis are already seeking the Democratic nomination.
The winner will face a difficult climb against Meehan, who had $2.1 million on hand as of the latest campaign filings and won reelection with 62 percent of the vote in 2014.
Democrats won the seat in 2008, but the district has been redrawn to lean more Republican and Meehan has not faced a serious challenge since winning his first term in 2010.
@JonathanTamari