Meet the Pa. House candidates running unopposed in special elections in Philly

It’s (special) Election Day in Northwest Philly and North Philadelphia on Tuesday to fill two state representative vacancies in Harrisburg, after the Democratic incumbents resigned this summer.

It’s uncommon to host a special election so close to an election, with less than two months before voters return to the polls to elect their state representatives to a two-year term. But Democrats, who hold a one-seat majority in the state House, have been at a standstill until the two vacancies are filled.

Keith Sea Harris, the 28th Ward leader and a local landlord, is running unopposed in North Philadelphia to fill the vacancy created by Rep. Donna Bullock’s resignation two months ago. Bullock left the state House to lead the nationally recognized anti-homelessness nonprofit Project HOME.

Harris, who has worked on numerous city, state, and federal campaigns for Philadelphia politicians, said he thought he would throw his hat in the ring.

Andre Carroll, a progressive field organizer for City Council’s two Working Families Party members, was already on the ballot to replace Rep. Stephen Kinsey when Kinsey announced he did not plan to run for reelection last year. Kinsey resigned early, choosing not to finish his term after more than 10 years in the state House.

Carroll is running unopposed to represent the Northwest Philly-based district in Tuesday’s special election and on the November ballot, and will go to Harrisburg sooner than he expected. He will be the first openly gay person to represent the Germantown-based district and will join a handful of other LGBTQ members in the General Assembly.

With neither candidate facing a Republican challenger, Carroll and Harris are expected to cruise to victory in Tuesday’s elections. They are being elected only for the remainder of Kinsey and Bullock’s terms, which run through the end of November.

A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster) criticized Democrats for hosting a special election just seven weeks before the candidates will appear on the ballot again in November.

“Given that these members will only serve for a limited number of weeks before the General Election, the only need to hold these costly special elections at this late date is for House Democrats to continue to gerrymander the membership of the House,” spokesperson Jason Gottesman said in a statement in July. “We have faith in the people of Pennsylvania to hold House Democrats accountable for their continued political games and open partisanship in November.”

Carroll and Harris were both chosen by the ward leaders in their districts in closed-door votes, as is the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s process to fill vacant positions.

Harris said he hopes residents of the district know he is approachable and willing to talk about their issues. They will likely resonate with him, he said, after he lost several of his siblings to addiction.

“I understand the plight of the community,” said Harris, who helped start a Narcotics Anonymous group at North Penn Baptist Church in his ward.

And he will model his leadership after Bullock’s, he added.

“I want to govern in love, just like she did,” Harris said.

His priorities, once elected, include increasing mental health care options, Harris said, as well as creating more moderate affordable housing options in the city.

Carroll, the 33-year-old progressive poised to represent the 201st House District, previously told The Inquirer that gun violence and mental health services are top issues for him. He is particularly concerned about making sure young people get the mental health help they need when processing the trauma of losing a friend or classmate.

“I think a lot about how we are asking young people to deal with something that even us as adults haven’t figured out how to handle,” Carroll told The Inquirer earlier this year. “Death is one of those things.”