Working Families Party candidates file to run and will try to boot the GOP from City Hall

A slate of progressive third-party candidates filed nomination papers Monday to run for office in Philadelphia, pledging during a news conference to oust Republicans they say “do not deserve governing power” in City Hall.

“This party is actively sabotaging civil rights,” Nicolas O’Rourke, a City Council candidate running as a member of the Working Families Party, said Monday. “It’s actively busting unions, actively chipping away at the foundation of our democracy, and actively standing in the way of progress in Philadelphia.”

The GOP candidates they’re running against say attempts to connect them to national Republicans will fall flat with voters.

“It’s not a surprise to me that they are going to try to tie us to what they’re going to term as the ‘party of Trump,’” said Drew Murray, a Republican running for Council who describes himself as a moderate. “And that is not who we are.”

It sets up a contentious fall, as Republicans try to defend the few officeholders they have remaining in City Hall from the third party that’s gained traction among the city’s progressives. Those races will be the most closely watched in the November general election. Because Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-1 citywide, the mayoral race between Democrat Cherelle Parker and Republican David Oh is seen as far less competitive.

O’Rourke, a pastor, is running for Council for the second time alongside Kendra Brooks, an incumbent City Council member. They hope to take two at-large seats on the 17-member legislative body that are effectively reserved for non-Democrats — both seats were held by Republicans for 70 years until Brooks won one in 2019 in historic fashion.

» READ MORE: The Working Families Party is gearing up to try to oust the few Republicans left in Philadelphia government

They’ve formed a slate alongside Jarrett Smith, a former labor lobbyist running to be one of three city commissioners, officials who administer elections.

He’s trying to top Seth Bluestein, the Republican nominee and former deputy to ex-City Commissioner Al Schmidt, who is now Pennsylvania’s secretary of state. Mayor Jim Kenney appointed Bluestein to replace Schmidt. (Bluestein stepped down from the Board of Elections when he launched his campaign earlier this year because, under city law, candidates can’t administer elections they’re running in.)

The trio of Working Families Party candidates on Monday submitted more than 21,000 petition signatures to get their names on the ballot in the November general election — well over the 7,700 required. The labor-aligned party said the haul indicates grassroots support for their bid to pick off members of the GOP.

“We organized,” Smith said. “We spent our summer in the streets talking to voters to build such a large movement for our campaigns.”

The city’s Home Rule Charter requires that two Council seats be held by members who are not in the majority party. Voters select five candidates, so the Democratic City Committee expects its five nominees to coast to victory in November.

For a third-party candidate to beat a Republican, they generally need to siphon away some voters who usually pick five Democrats and have them instead select fewer Democrats and vote for one or two third-party candidates. Democratic Party chair Bob Brady has warned city committee members against supporting or electioneering for third-party candidates, which a party rule prohibits.

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

The GOP, for its part, nominated five candidates but is encouraging Republican voters to strategically select just two: Murray, a longtime civic leader in Center City, and Jim Hasher, a real estate agent and bar owner.

Only one Republican currently sits on Council. Longtime Councilmember Brian O’Neill, who represents Northeast Philadelphia’s 10th District, is in a competitive fight for reelection against Democrat Gary Masino, business manager of the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19. Former Councilmember David Oh resigned earlier this year and is the GOP nominee for mayor.

Murray said he thinks city voters want “balance and common sense” and pointed out that multiple high-profile candidates backed by the Working Families Party in the spring lost their races.

For mayor, the party endorsed former City Councilmember Helen Gym, who lost in a crowded primary field to Parker, a more moderate candidate who consolidated support in majority-Black and brown neighborhoods. The party also backed six candidates for City Council. Three won — the ones who were also endorsed by the city Democratic Party.

O’Rourke said the losses served as “a reminder that in organizing, we do not stop.”

“It wasn’t just this last election where there have been times when we haven’t quite gotten there,” he said. “We continued to build over the last four years, and we’re going to continue to build from now all the way through November as well.”