Who’s running for City Council in Philadelphia? That’s a question on the minds of many Philadelphia voters as a handful of current members vacate their seats to run or explore a run for mayor of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia’s resign-to-run rule requires members of City Council to resign their seats in order to run. So far, that’s happened four times in 2022, with the resignation of Allan Domb, Derek Green, Cherelle Parker and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez — all of whom, with the exception of Domb, have launched formal campaigns for the city’s top job.
City Council President Darrell Clarke called for a special election to fill these vacancies. You will find the slate of candidates below on your ballot during 2022 PA General Election, which concludes with in-person voting on November 8. Voters in Philadelphia will decide on two district-specific candidates, in the 7th and 9th councilmanic districts, and two at-large candidates.
How did we get these candidates in the first place? Party ward leaders chose them. We did some diligent digging to offer you descriptions of each City Council candidate they chose, so you can step into the voting booth (or fill in your mail-in ballot at home) with some background knowledge on your side.
Who’s running for City Council in Philadelphia: Special Election 2022
WHO’S RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL IN THE 7TH DISTRICT
This seat, vacated by four-term Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, represents parts of North and Northeast Philadelphia, including Kensington, Feltonville, Fishtown, Hunting Park, Frankford, Harrowgate, Norris Square and Juniata Park.
DEMOCRAT
QUETCY LOZADA: Lozada served from 2008 to 2018 as Quiñones-Sánchez’s chief of staff. She’s a Philadelphia native, Northwood resident, mother of two, and vice president of community engagement and organizing for the Hunting Park Christian service group Esperanza. She’s also served on Pennsylvania Commission of Latino Affairs and worked for the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations (Concilio) and Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau. Her community service work includes collecting and distributing hundreds of Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, an LIHEAP drive to assist Spanish-speaking residents in completing applications for utility bill assistance, a citywide winter coat drive, and public clean-ups.
REPUBLICAN
JAMES WHITEHEAD: Whitehead is a Frankford native and business and property owner. Whitehead grew up in poverty, battled depression and homelessness, and considers himself self-made. Gun violence and drugs afflicted many of his friends. He is the father of two.
LIBERTARIAN
RANDALL J. JUSTUS: Information to come.
WHO’S RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL IN THE 9TH DISTRICT
This seat, vacated by two-term Councilmember Cherelle Parker, consists of the Northeast and Northwest Philadelphia neighborhoods of Mount Airy, West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Olney, Lawncrest, Lawndale, Burholme and Oxford Circle.
DEMOCRAT
ANTHONY PHILLIPS: Phillips grew up in working-class Philadelphia and currently serves as executive director of Youth Action, a program that connects Philly’s middle and high school students to service opportunities to inspire socially responsible leadership. Phillips also directs precollege programs at TeenSHARP, an organization that opens doors for minority youth to achieve scholarships and gain admission to selective universities.
REPUBLICAN
ROSLYN ROSS: This Mt. Airy resident and former Democrat spoke with the Northeast Times during an event with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz. Her biggest concerns are crime, education and programs for senior citizens. She says she plans to door-knock for votes: “I’m a boots-on-the-ground candidate.”
LIBERTARIAN
YUSUF JACKSON: Information to come.
WHO’S RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL’S TWO AT-LARGE SEATS IN THE SPECIAL ELECTION
The seven at-large members of City Council don’t represent any specific neighborhoods. Another way they’re different: At least two of them need to be from a minority party or independent. So far, only Democratic at-large councilmembers have resigned their seats: Derek Green and Allan Domb.
DEMOCRATS
JIMMY HARRITY (1): A native of Southwest Philadelphia, Harrity received his GED from the Community College of Philadelphia, operated the Famous Cookie stall at the Bellevue, was an investigator under City Controller Jonathan Saidel, worked union construction, and struggled with alcoholism. After getting sober, he executive directed Senator Sharif Street‘s office, then became political director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. He is on the board of the addiction nonprofit One Day at a Time, hopes to empower kids in his Kensington neighborhood, and believes in educational equity’s power to create social mobility.
SHARON VAUGHN (2): Vaughn is the Democratic leader of the 42nd Ward and, until recently, was chief of staff to At-Large Councilmember Derek Green. Her previous roles in city government include working as an aide to former Councilmember Marian Tasco. Vaughn, a Feltonville resident, she has said would work to prevent gun violence by seeking out those who’ve committed crimes and offering them “some type of resources to maybe prevent them from going out there and being violent criminals,” she told the Inquirer.
REPUBLICANS
JIM HASHER (3): Hasher is a Torresdale resident, the owner of both a realty company and sports bar, and his party’s former leader of the 65th Ward. The father of five graduated from Archbishop Ryan and serves as athletic director of the Torresdale Boys Club and a basketball coach for Torresdale and St. Katherine of Siena. He’s stated his priorities as public safety, quality of life, the opioid epidemic, small businesses and lifelong residents. Describing himself as a moderate, Hasher recently tells the Inquirer, “I want to kind of rip the Republican label off of this thing.”
DREW MURRAY (4): Murray is the 15th Ward’s Republican and a former Democrat. He works as the regional sales manager at a Conshohocken storage system firm and volunteers as the president of Friends of Coxe Park. He’s been the president of his neighborhood association (Logan Square), where he lives with his family. Murray is on the board of Center City District and the finance council of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. He ran for Council unsuccessfully in the 2019 Republican primary.
LIBERTARIANS
POETICA BEY (5): Bey is a spoken word artist, filmmaker and producer and host of a radio show about art and activism on WPEB, 88.1FM. She studied at Moore College of Art & Design and the University of the Arts.
MARCK JURCHAK (6): Jurchak chairs Philadelphia’s Libertarian party and has worked as a computer programmer and hardware verification engineer. He is strongly anti-vaccine and anti-mask, and fairly active on Facebook.