(Image: Gabrielle Beaudry)

Azavea 'Summer of Maps' fellow Gabrielle Beaudry has a new blog post up about a fascinating data project she worked on with Committee of 70 analyzing the flow of money from the 2017 District Attorney campaigns through Democratic ward organizations. The results help shed light on some of the less-understood low-level political machinations in our elections, and Beaudry offers helpful advice on improving campaign finance record-keeping to allow for easier citizen analysis.

(State Rep. Chris Rabb | Photo: Kentucky Educational Television)

In an interview with Inquirer columnist John Baer, first-term Rep. Chris Rabb (HD-200) discusses how he operates in Harrisburg as someone who got elected without the support the Democratic Party machine, and how he plans to run the 9th ward as a reformer:

Speaking in front of a packed house in the Free Library auditorium Thursday evening, a group of Philadelphia's up-and-coming political leaders weighed in on the future of the local Democratic and Republican parties, and how institutions and the city's political culture will change as the younger generations move into more positions of influence. 

The big question coming out of the 2017 municipal primaries is whether the results, which were a total black eye for the traditional Democratic Party machine, should be seen as a one-time fluke, or whether they're part of an ongoing trend that spells trouble for other incumbents in the 2018 and 2019 election cycles.

(DCC Chairman Bob Brady is a very traditional guy. Photo: Rep. Bob Brady)

In the course explaining away the Democratic City Committee's ultra-weak performance in the municipal primaries this Tuesday, chairman Bob Brady told Dave Davies of WHYY that the "traditional wards" were simply out-hustled by "liberal wards."

(Congressman Bob Brady | Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer)

This week former Governor Ed Rendell gave Democratic City Committee chairman Bob Brady some unsolicited advice about cleaning up the city's party organization via an article at City & State--advice that didn't go over so well.