Municipal-year general elections are usually pretty sleepy in Philadelphia, with most of the action happening during the primary, but this year we're in for a little more lively of a fall campaign season because there's a boomlet of independent candidates running for City Council At-Large. 

Election Day is less than two weeks away on May 21st, and with such unusually competitive races for City Council, there are some real opportunities to make a difference for candidates you support by spending even just a couple hours volunteering to help them persuade voters, turn those voters out on Election Day, and make sure they’re provided with information about the candidate at their polling place

(Image: Philadelphia City Council)

It's budget season in City Council, and that means it's time for one of City Council to exercise one of their most important functions, which is holding accountable all the various departments and entities that receive public funding. Some Council members are better at this job than others, and some just use it to score political points and special favors. At the Free Library's hearing yesterday, we saw a particularly flagrant example of the latter from 3rd District Councilmember Jannie Blackwell.

(Jewell Williams posing with Bill Keller, Darrell Clarke, and Anthony Williams)

In a surprise move, Philadelphia Democratic City Committee has revoked their two-day-old endorsement of Sheriff Jewell Williams's reelection after the endorsement sparked public outcry from activists and the media.

Philadelphia 3.0 is pleased to announce our 2019 endorsements for the City Council primaries this May 21st.

Philadelphia's crowded 2019 primary for City Council At-Large passed a key milestone yesterday with the drawing of ballot positions, leading to some big surprises that could impact the primary results on May 21st.

With the 2019 petition deadline in the rearview last Tuesday, and ballot position drawings coming up next week, the shape of Philadelphia's municipal primary is starting to firm up. Let's dive right in to some of the highlights.

Philadelphia's 2019 municipal primaries are happening in just a few months on May 21st, and if the past two election cycles are any indication, the political mood both nationally and locally seems likely to remain unusually favorable to upstart political candidates independent from the traditional party structure. Is that trend going to hold this year? We're still more than a month away from the petition period to get on the ballot, but here's what we already know about the 2019 field.

Sheriff Jewell Williams is up for reelection next year in 2019, and is expected to be highly vulnerable to a primary challenge due to confirmed allegations that he sexually harassed one of his employees. Williams has actually been accused of harassment by four women, and so far an investigation has confirmed one of those accounts.

This Tuesday's stunning primary upset in New York's 14th Congressional District, where 28-year-old first-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley—the 4th highest-ranking Democrat in the House, and leader of the Queens Democratic Party—has us thinking about what might have happened in Philly's old 1st Congressional District if the PA Supreme Court hadn't redrawn the Congressional Districts, and if Rep. Bob Brady hadn't announced his retirement.