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Election Day is on our heels, folks. The polls are open from 7am to 8pm (you can get in line before 7am and vote after 8pm as long as you make it in line by then).

Make sure you have a plan to get there and participate in our precious Democracy.

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About how City Council works

At-Large councilmembers are elected by citywide popular vote and no political party can have more than five at-large seats.

Our City Council has 25 standing committees, including Labor and Civil Service, Ethics, Children and Youth, and Aging.

All committee meetings are open to the public. Find out when they’re happening here.

Want more fun facts about City Council? Check out the Committee of Seventy’s guide.

 

Who’s Running for City Council in the Special Election of 2022?

These are the candidates running for City Council during the special election in Philadelphia this fall

Who’s Running for City Council in the Special Election of 2022?

These are the candidates running for City Council during the special election in Philadelphia this fall

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 DombDerek GreenCherelle 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.

Who's running for City Council in Philadelphia: A guide to the candidates running in the 2022 special elections
Quetzy Lozada (L) and James Whitehead

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 WHITEHEADWhitehead 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

Who's running for City Council in Philadelphia: A guide to the candidates running in the 2022 special elections
Anthony Phillips

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 crimeeducation 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.

Who's running for City Council in Philadelphia: A guide to the candidates running in the 2022 special elections
Numbers coincide with order of descriptions below.

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.

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