Working Families Party candidate removed from the ballot in race for Philadelphia city commissioner

A third-party candidate running to administer Philadelphia’s elections was removed from the ballot Friday in a blow to the progressive Working Families Party that’s trying to oust Republicans from city government.

Jarrett Smith, a former labor lobbyist, faced a legal challenge to his candidacy after he failed to file his financial disclosure paperwork with the correct office. In a statement, he said running for office “is difficult by design in Philadelphia.”

The development all but ensures incumbent Republican Seth Bluestein will return to the elections board. But two other members of the Working Families Party who are running for seats on City Council won separate challenges to their candidacies, setting up for a heated November general election between progressives and the GOP.

They’re battling for two seats on City Council that are reserved for members of the nondominant party. Republicans traditionally held the seats, until 2019, when Working Families Party member Kendra Brooks won a seat on Council.

» READ MORE: Centrists back Seth Bluestein for Philly city commissioner, with an eye to 2024

Brooks is up for reelection this year. She and her running mate, Nicolas O’Rourke, faced separate challenges to their candidacies that were filed by Republican ward leaders who cited a paperwork error.

Shohin Vance, who represented Republicans, said Brooks and O’Rourke signed their financial disclosures electronically. He argued that state law requires they fill out the form with a pen or pencil, citing a 2020 case when Pennsylvania Democrats successfully petitioned to have the Green Party’s presidential candidate tossed for electronically signing paperwork.

But Charles M. Gibbs, an attorney for Brooks and O’Rourke, said they used the electronic records portal that the city’s Department of Records set up. He pointed out that other elected officials — including the judge, Common Pleas Court Judge Joshua Roberts — electronically signed annual disclosure statements.

Roberts said he was not sure how he could “push aside the permissions” established by the city for candidates to file electronically. He ruled that the 2020 case didn’t apply and said Brooks and O’Rourke could amend their statements.

The Working Families Party said in a statement that the challenges were “frivolous” and that they’re “well positioned for victory” this fall.

“Philadelphia’s progressive movement and the multiracial working class is united in defeating the Republican slate,” the party said.

Still, the legal battle may not be over. Vince Fenerty, chairman of the Republican City Committee, said he is “leaning towards” appealing the decision.

“If you are not competent enough to follow directions and do the basic things required of all candidates, why should people trust you to be competent enough to represent their interests in City Council?” he said.

Smith’s withdrawal from the City Commissioners race means the three seats will likely be filled by incumbents ahead of the 2024 presidential election, when Pennsylvania will be a critical battleground. Republican Seth Bluestein, as well as Democrats Lisa Deeley and Omar Sabir, are now the only candidates on the November general election ballot.

» READ MORE: Philly’s incumbent elections officials won their uncontested primary elections. Now the real fight begins.

Had Smith remained, the race would have pitted a progressive former lobbyist without experience administering elections against Bluestein, who worked for a decade in the city commissioners office.

He was a top aide to Al Schmidt, the former Republican city commissioner who vocally rejected former President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud in Philadelphia. Schmidt is now the top election official in Pennsylvania, a post he was appointed to by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Like Schmidt, Bluestein has support from Republicans and some Democrats. They’ve argued that having a member of the GOP on Philadelphia’s board of elections lends credibility should national Republicans question the administration of next year’s election.

But the Working Families Party and Smith said no one associated with the GOP should oversee elections in Philadelphia.

“We are talking about a time in which we live in where our democracy is under attack,” Smith said last month.

West Philadelphia incumbent Councilmember Jamie Gauthier will be challenged in November by Jabari Jones, a moderate Democrat running as a third-party candidate and a member of the “West is best” party.

On Friday, Gauthier’s supporters dropped a legal challenge they filed against Jones earlier this week that argued he hadn’t obtained enough legitimate petition signatures to make the ballot.

Matthew Wolfe, an attorney representing Jones, said the challengers served a copy of their petition to the city’s Board of Elections after the deadline to do so had already passed.

Gauthier’s campaign said in a statement Friday that “it’s unfortunate that a technicality may now allow a candidate to run who, on multiple occasions, has failed to earn enough support from real West and Southwest Philadelphians to legitimately qualify for the ballot.”

Jones, executive director of the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, dropped out of the Democratic primary in the spring after a similar challenge to his nomination petitions. He said Friday that his candidacy will “give the voters of the district the primary that they wanted.”

Andre Kersey, a Libertarian who also filed to run in the 3rd District, was booted from the race Friday after a legal challenge revealed he was not registered to vote.

Gauthier, a progressive running for a second term on Council, is favored to win over Jones given the district’s heavily Democratic makeup. She is one of the only incumbent district Council members facing a challenge.

The most competitive district race is in Northeast Philadelphia’s 10th District, where Republican Councilmember Brian J. O’Neill is defending his seat from Democratic challenger Gary Masino.