Who’s running for Philadelphia City Council’s at-large seats? Here are the candidates

Philadelphia will elect seven people to City Council’s at-large seats in 2023.

Unlike Council’s 10 district members, at-large lawmakers are elected by voters citywide, with five seats going to Democrats and two seats reserved for minority-party members. More than 30 people have filed paperwork to run for the chamber’s seven at-large seats this year.

Here’s what to know about the candidates:

Incumbent at-large Council member. Resides in Wynnefield.

Gilmore Richardson, the protege of former At-Large Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown, is seeking reelection for a second term. In her first three years on Council, she pushed for environmental protections and government accountability. She was the architect of a law to extend youth curfew hours. Her bill to create more public input on police contract negotiations in the wake of the 2020 social unrest led to a lawsuit from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5.

Incumbent at-large Council member. Resides in Kensington.

Harrity was hand-picked by the Democratic establishment to run for a vacant at-large seat in a special election last year, and is now seeking his first full term. An openly recovering alcoholic with a roller-coaster political career, Harrity has worked in the service industry, as a union construction worker, and as an aide to both former Mayor John Street and his son, state Sen. Sharif Street.

Incumbent at-large Council member. Resides in East Oak Lane.

Thomas ran for Council twice unsuccessfully before he was elected in 2019, and is now running to secure his second term. Alongside Gilmore Richardson, he’s one of council’s youngest members, and he’s an avid volunteer basketball coach and a champion of youth engagement. Philadelphia became the first city to ban traffic stops for minor offenses after Thomas championed a bill aimed at reducing racial bias in police stops.

President of the Pa. Chapter of the National Organization for Women. Resides in Mount Airy.

Ahmad came to the U.S. as a student from war-torn Bangladesh and has since built an expansive career as a scientist, small-business owner, deputy mayor, and women’s-rights activist. Her Council run follows two campaigns for statewide office as a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018 and auditor general in 2020.

Community organizer. Resides in Germantown.

A first-generation Paraguayan American, Almirón spent eight years as the executive director of the South Philly-based immigrants rights group Juntos. She lost her first run for an at-large seat in 2019, but restarted her campaign last year on a similarly progressive platform that includes universal housing and environmental reform.

Attorney. Resides in Strawberry Mansion.

Born and raised in Strawberry Mansion, Alexander is a cybersecurity attorney who launched an exploratory committee for his Council bid last year. He was the first Black student body president representing all 19 campuses at Penn State University, where he also served on the board of trustees. He said his campaign will focus on public safety and improving technology to help law enforcement.

Public school teacher. Resides in East Mount Airy.

A federal government employee turned public school teacher, Booth said he is running for Council with a focus on education, particularly boosting Black male representation among teachers. He is a Democratic committee member and active with his East Mount Airy neighborhood group.

Attorney and activist. Resides in Ogontz.

Sherrie Cohen believes the fourth time’s the charm. A self-identified democratic socialist who works as a tenants’ rights lawyer, Cohen has run three campaigns for Council on a progressive platform, including running as the first “out” candidate in 2011. The longtime LGBTQ activist dropped her 2019 bid after a blowup involving a rival candidate, only later to run again as a third-party candidate.

Former government official. Resides in Kensington.

A Kensington native of Puerto Rican descent, Colón worked for three Democratic Council members before she was tapped by former Gov. Tom Wolf to lead the state’s Latino commission, GACLA, where she has served Spanish-speaking communities across the state for the last seven years.

Community organizer. Resides in Mount Airy.

Edwards worked for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign in Pennsylvania, co-founded a political action committee called Millennials in Action that sought to mobilize young Black voters, and served as the political action chair of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. He is also a Democratic committee person in East Mt. Airy.

Former sanitation worker. Resides in North Philly.

As trash piled up during the pandemic, Haigler set out to document his job on Instagram to give his neighbors a better look at the life of sanitation workers in one of the nation’s most notoriously filthy cities. Haigler leveraged his viral cachet as “Ya Fav Trashman” into an activist career, and he’s now campaigning to bring a focus on quality-of-life issues to Council.

Activist. Resides in Gray’s Ferry.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Hagins is a familiar face in Council already — as one of the most frequent public commenters. Hagins said he wants to decrease the wealth gap for Black Philadelphians, establish an elected school board, and move City Council meetings out of City Hall into the outlying neighborhoods.

Director of Old City District. Resides in Point Breeze.

Itzkowitz, an attorney, has helmed the Old City District since 2014, advocating for friendlier business conditions and overseeing economic development in one of the city’s busiest tourist sectors. He launched his campaign in January with an early message pitch around “keeping Philadelphia’s streets clean and safe and growing its economy.”

Chief financial officer at Vitara Biomedical. Resides in Center City.

The Kelly family includes a famous actress, a famous Olympian rower, and a handful of historically well-known politicos. It’s that last family legacy that “J.B.” Kelly, a financial executive at a biomedical company, seeks to continue on Council. He said he would leverage his experience as a financial adviser to help close the city’s economic divide and work with the state to reform the school funding formula.

Attorney. Resides in Queen Village/Bella Vista.

An attorney and affordable-housing activist, Landau has spent decades around city government, representing low-income tenants with Community Legal Services and more recently as the director of the city’s Fair Housing Commission. She’s also an LGBTQ activist. Landau and her wife, Kerry, received the first same-sex marriage license in Pennsylvania after it became legal in 2014.

Security guard and small-business owner. Resides in Wynnefield.

When he’s not working as a security guard or running his small-business consultancy, Martin serves as board member of the Wynnefield Residents Association. He said he’s running for Council because he felt his neighbors’ concerns around zoning and development issues “fell on deaf ears” in City Hall.

Political organizer. Resides in South Philadelphia.

McIllmurray gained clout in Philly politics as the director of progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia, elevating candidates such as District Attorney Larry Krasner and state Sen. Nikil Saval into public office. She has pitched herself as a progressive addition to Council who would advocate for rent control, universal family care, and more worker protections.

Customer service professional. Resides in Logan Square.

Modzelewski works as a complaint coordinator for Independence Blue Cross, according to his LinkedIn profile. On his campaign website, he describes himself as a public school dropout who later got his life on track through the Community College of Philadelphia and is now working on his second master’s degree.

Housing counselor at Congreso. Resides in North Philadelphia.

Orsino last ran for City Council in 2019 as a Republican against 1st District Councilmember Mark Squilla. He recently told a news outlet that Trumpism led him to leave the Republican Party, and that he now identifies as a democratic socialist. On Council, he said he would focus on expanding affordable housing and other social services.

Teacher. Resides in Kingsessing.

Prettyman worked as a high school English teacher, and runs a small nonprofit that aims to provide academic resources to students. In a fund-raising pitch, Prettyman said she would focus on strengthening K-12 education with more vocational trade programs and financial literacy training.

Former Council staffer. Resides in Chestnut Hill.

A public administration wonk, Santamoor served as a deputy managing director under former Mayor Michael Nutter, where she helped build quality-of-life programs like Philly311, and more recently worked as chief of staff to former Councilmember Allan Domb. She ran unsuccessfully for Council in 2019, but began fund-raising for her second Council run last year.

Assistant principal. Resides in Olney.

Segers is an assistant principal at Mastery Charter School Mann Elementary. He said he began raising money for his campaign last year in hopes of improving the public school system and boosting public safety.

Philanthropist. Resides in Olde Kensington.

The scion of a well-known philanthropic family, Tuttleman started running his family foundation at age 20, overseeing small grants to civic groups, arts organizations, and nonprofits throughout the region. He has since steered his family resources toward public health crises, like the opioid epidemic, and on Council, he says he would focus on “optimizing taxation and creating more equitable access to capital.”

Business owner. Resides in Center City.

Donavan West served nine months as the CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware until the pandemic hit, and he resigned to start his own company, an accelerator for Black-owned businesses. West has also worked for nonprofits and served on the Mayor’s Commission on African American Males.

Incumbent at-large Council member. Resides in Nicetown.

Brooks is seeking her second term as the only third-party elected official to hold a Council seat in at least a century. Part of Council’s progressive wing, she expanded COVID-19 sick leave for many workers, pushed for rent control, and sought to implement a wealth tax on the city’s richest residents, often drawing opposition from the business community.

Reverend and activist. Resides in West Philadelphia.

In 2019, O’Rourke came about 7,000 votes shy of winning one of two at-large seats historically held by Republicans. The 34-year-old social justice activist and pastor at Living Water United Church of Christ in Oxford Circle will look for a second chance in November.

Real estate broker and restaurant owner. Resides in Torresdale.

Since his last campaign as a Republican for Congress in 1994, Hasher has worked as both a real estate broker and the owner of Jimmy’s Timeout Sports Pub in the city’s Mayfair section. A self-described moderate Republican, he said he is campaigning on quality-of-life issues and the city’s opioid epidemic.

Sales professional. Resides in Logan Square.

Murray first ran for Council in 2019, and along with Hasher as a Republican nominee in last year’s special election. The Villanova native is the former president of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and works as a regional sales manager for a Conshohocken-based storage firm. A Democrat until 2018, Murray is campaigning on quality-of-life issues and hoping to peel away disaffected Democrats from his former party.

Real estate professional. Resides in Bridesburg.

Oropeza took 43% of the vote in last year’s special election to fill the 5th state Senatorial District in Northeast Philadelphia, and he’s now shifting his energies to Council. A former boxer and MMA fighter, Oropeza has since built his name in real estate and as head of a local nonprofit that does street cleanups, earning accolades from Councilmember David Oh, who has resigned his at-large seat to run for mayor.