Philly Democrats to party officials: Don’t back Working Families Party candidates

Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee is bracing for another round of recriminations as party chair Bob Brady warns against supporting third-party candidates in November’s general election.

Brady, in a stern letter this week to ward leaders and committee members, said the party’s bylaws call for their ejection from those posts if they back anyone but a Democrat in November.

“In the weeks ahead, we expect that Democratic party ward leaders and committee people will be asked to engage in actions (or omissions) to aid and support prospective candidates who intend to run against our Democratic nominees,” Brady wrote in his warning.

Brady added for emphasis: “Compliance with this foundational rule is essential and non-negotiable. We truly do not want to see any of our committee people or ward leaders trigger this provision of our bylaws.”

The letter didn’t mention the Working Families Party, a progressive group gaining local momentum, but it’s clear that drives Brady’s warning.

Democrats can be ejected, Brady wrote, for helping third-party candidates get on the ballot, giving them money, electioneering, or helping to turn out the vote to support them.

The letter caused a stir in the party ranks, though Brady told Clout the feedback he received was all positive.

“We can’t have people cutting Democrats,” Brady said, adding that the Working Families Party “can win on their own instead of winning with Democratic votes.”

We’ve been here before. The party issued similar threats in 2019 as the Working Families Party put up progressives for City Council seats.

The progressives are aiming for two of the seven Council at-large seats that are reserved in the city’s Home Rule Charter for members not in the majority party. Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-1 in Philly.

Democrats held five at-large seats and Republicans held two for seven decades until 2019, when Kendra Brooks won a set-aside seat for the Working Families Party.

That party is now trying to elect Nicholas O’Rourke to the second set-aside Council seat and Jarrett Smith to the one seat reserved for minor parties on the three-member board of City Commissioners.

Brooks kicked off her reelection campaign Thursday. O’Rourke is seeking help circulating his nomination petitions to get on the fall ballot.

Party officials waved the bylaws but ultimately took no action in 2019 when then-Councilmember Helen Gym, a committee person in the 8th Ward, and State Rep. Chris Rabb, then the Democratic leader of the 9th Ward, backed Working Families Party candidates.

Rabb, who quit as ward leader in 2020, said this week that progressives are aiming to beat Republicans, not Democrats, and that his party should find a way to work with progressives to boost voter turnout.

One committee person, Gwen Snyder, resigned the 27th Ward post she has held for nearly a decade after seeing Brady’s letter. She’s backing Brooks and O’Rourke.

“It’s really important to keep Republicans out of those seats,” she said.

John Sabatina Sr., Democratic leader of the 56th Ward, was ousted by the party in 1999 when he backed Republican Sam Katz for mayor. Sabatina’s wife ran the ward until he was reelected to the post.

Sabatina defeated Register of Wills Tracey Gordon in last month’s primary, running with the Democratic Party’s endorsement.

Carrie Lewis DelRosso, the 2022 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania, is now a lobbyist for Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. One of the clients she represents in the General Assembly really jumped off the page — Dominion Voting Systems.

DelRosso’s running mate, State Sen. Doug Mastriano, was a constant source of baseless claims about 2020 election fraud in Pennsylvania. As part of that, Mastriano pushed for Fulton County to give access to an outside audit of Dominion voting equipment used in the election.

That breach in security prompted the Pennsylvania Department of State to decertify the machines and a pair of court rulings, including one from the state Supreme Court in April, ordering sanctions for Fulton County.

Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million in April to settle a defamation lawsuit about lies the conservative cable channel told about the Colorado-based company and the 2020 election.

Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney has been lobbying for Dominion since 2017. DelRosso, a former state representative from Allegheny County who started lobbying for the company in late May, declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for Dominion.

The results are in, and Clout has done the tally for write-in votes in May’s primary. Former President Donald Trump clearly bested his 2024 Republican primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trump won 27 write-in votes for several offices, including the state Supreme Court, Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Court of Common Pleas, Municipal Court, mayor, city commissioner, city controller, City Council, register of wills, and sheriff.

That’s a lot of votes for judge. Seems like voters identify Trump these days with time in courtrooms.

DeSantis took just two write-in votes for city commissioner, an office that runs the city’s elections. Curious, given his efforts to limit who can vote in Florida.

Other Republican presidential contenders — former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, etc. — received no write-in voters.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.