On November 5, the voters of Philadelphia elected seven coucilmembers-at-large. One of the winners is Kendra Brooks, Working Families Party nominee. She was not the nominee of any other party.
Philadelphia election law does not permit any party to run more than five candidates for the seven seats, and usually this means that the Democrats win five and the Republicans win two. This time, there were five Democrats elected, one Republican elected, and Brooks.
Brooks is just a Democrat using the sham WFP to circumvent the law.
Good for the The Working Families Party.
Ordinarily I would agree with the commenter “me” above, but the Democrats were viciously responding to anyone who indicated they wanted to support the WFP nominees; they even threatened to kick people off committees and other party positions if they indicated support. No, I think the two WFP nominees were real deal third party candidates this time, and that Brooks still managed to win is an accomplishment and a sign of some cracks and weaknesses appearing in the otherwise near-total two-party monopoly. Outside of this race, partisan Green Party candidates for local offices were pulling double digits; even Frieda Berrigan got over 10% of the vote for New London Mayor despite running as a write-in candidate, outpolling the WFP line that was on the ballot.
Wasn’t there a Libertarian running as well? How did he do?
How come the RED donkey communists did not attack the at-large system – in RED donkey communist Philly ???
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PR – even in RED communist dying/dead cities.
Sometimes the WFP and Democrats have a friendly relationship. Sometimes its more like a jocks and chess club members in high school.
Casual Observer,
There was a “libertarian” running. He got less than half a percent of the vote.
Thanks, Zachary.
@Zachary, while the Libertarian got about half of a percent of the ‘votes’, he got support from about 1% to 2% of ‘voters’, as each voter can vote for up to five candidates.
@Joshua, while the old guard democratic machine opposed the WFP candidates, They had broad support from progressive democrats including many Dem committee members, a couple of local state legislators, the most popular City Council member, and Elizabeth Warren, who subsequently got the national WFP endorsement.
The same split that is seen in the local democrats is occurring in the republican party. The The old line party chair resigned after splits caused the GOP to lose a seat to the WFP, and the incumbent targeted be the old guard retained his seat. These splits and generational transitions seem to mirror the national stage.