Three-way Democratic primary for a West Philly state House seat remains too close to call

The Democratic primary between State Rep. Amen Brown and progressive challenger Cass Green remained too close to call Wednesday, prolonging the drama in one of the most competitive Pennsylvania House races in Tuesday’s primary election.

Brown, 36, a two-term incumbent, was clinging to a 50-vote lead over Green, 64, on Wednesday evening with all precincts reporting in his West Philadelphia-based 10th District and almost all mail ballots counted. Radio personality Sajda “Purple” Blackwell, 47, was a distant third.

The Associated Press had not yet made a call in the race as of Wednesday evening.

Provisional ballots will not be counted until Friday, and there could be a small number of additional mail ballots counted, City Commissioner Seth Bluestein said.

“We expect it will take at least a few days for every vote to be counted and we will await the final results before commenting further,” Green campaign spokesperson Joe Corrigan said in a statement.

The three-way primary was a rematch of the 2022 race, when Brown won a narrow victory that wasn’t declared until after Election Day. There is no Republican running in the general election, so the winner of the primary faces a clear path to the statehouse in November. The heavily Democratic 10th District includes Mantua, Powelton, and parts of University City and Logan Square.

A Brown victory would represent the latest in a string of wins for moderate Democrats over more liberal candidates in recent Philly elecitons. Green was backed by the Working Families Party and other progressive groups that targeted Brown for his support for “school choice” policies and his tough-on-crime approach to policing.

But the race doesn’t fit neatly into an establishment-versus-challenger narrative because Brown is effectively a political lone wolf — a rarity in a city where most politicians hail from factions of the city’s Democratic Party or are aligned with progressive organizations.

Unofficial results show that, compared to 2022, Brown appears to have lost ground to Green and Blackwell in parts of his West Philadelphia base. But he was able to stay competitive because he significantly improved his performance in the small part of Center City that was added to his district during redistricting before the 2022 election and that Green dominated that year.

A key moment in the race came when Brown surprisingly won the endorsement of Center City’s 8th Ward Democrats. As an “open ward,” it allows committeepeople to vote on endorsements, rather than defaulting to the selections of the ward leader.

Green won the ward’s backing in 2022 and racked up a margin of more than 500 votes in those divisions. Brown appears to have narrowed that gap to just over 100 votes this year, according to the unofficial results.

Supporters of Brown gathered at Café Breezes in Parkside on Tuesday night and broke into applause when the initial results were posted online and showed him with a lead. The margin tightened as the night went on, and partygoers went home around midnight without knowing the outcome.

Brown, a West Philly native and gun violence survivor, said he has unfinished business in the state House, like codifying an end to a $5 medical services co-pay for incarcerated people, which the Department of Corrections stopped charging in 2021 after Brown inquired about it.

He has championed Democratic priorities like marijuana legalization, and wrote a bill to halt Philadelphia sheriff’s sales during the pandemic. But he has faced criticism for aligning himself with Republican interests on issues like school choice, and introducing legislation that would have established new mandatory minimum sentences for people with prior convictions who are found guilty of possessing an illegal gun.

Brown has also raised eyebrows over allegations of financial misconduct and breaking election rules. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year with a tough-on-crime and pro-development platform, winning less than 2% of the vote citywide.

Brown caused a dust-up again on Tuesday, when multiple people accused him of illegally campaigning inside polling places. Brown declined to comment on that incident. But in one video of him inside a polling place, Brown defended his actions by noting that he is the Democratic ward leader. (Ward leaders are also prohibited from electioneering inside polling places.)

He has continued to have support from top House Democrats, including House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) and Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery).

“I’m just trying to be myself,” Brown said Tuesday night. “I love this city. I take a lot of hits for this city.”

Green was optimistic late Tuesday night at her own party at the Painted Bride, telling supporters at 11:30 p.m., “You better pray and believe that we got this.”

Green, a longtime community organizer and artist who lives in Mill Creek, most recently worked on juvenile diversion and restorative justice projects in Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office — an experience she said “sealed the deal” for her to run again, so she could fight at the state level for criminal justice reform.

She had the backing of Krasner in the race, as well as State Sen. Nikil Saval, and City Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier, Kendra Brooks, and Nicolas O’Rourke. She also pocketed endorsements from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the SEIU Pennsylvania State Council, and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Green is a progressive. Brown’s support for school vouchers and the creation of a special prosecutor role for crimes committed on SEPTA served as a motivator to challenge the incumbent a second time, Green said.

“This is an important year for progress,” Green said before the election. “Bringing coalition together can sometimes be messy, but the work is worth it, and there are solutions and great opportunities ahead of us.”

Staff writer Max Marin contributed to this article.

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Green’s ideology. She identifies as a progressive.