– Michael Kleiner –

After the May 2025 primary, Philadelphia Democratic Party City Committee Chair Bob Brady–on the job since 1986–gloated that it was a great election because all his candidates won. He glossed over the 16% city-wide turnout. As usual, the 9th Ward, which encompasses Chestnut Hill and a sliver of Mt. Airy had the highest turnout in the city, more than twice Philadelphia’s overall turnout. However, it was nothing-to-get-excited-about 34.73%. The 22nd Ward was second at 30.74%. Mt. Airy Democrats divisions fared better, but still not to our satisfaction.

A look at results in the 8th City Councilmanic District and some other wards and divisions in Philadelphia show a story far worse, which is very alarming and cause for concern in future elections if attitudes don’t change.

In the spring primary, 53 of 66 wards had turnouts of less than 20%, 13 were in single digits! In the 7th Ward, which has 23 divisions, 4.30% bothered to exercise their right, a total of 517 voters out of 12,014 registered. In 07-02, seven people voted, and, in 07-22, it was 8. When you consider there are five poll workers who should have voted, almost nobody showed up. What a long day for the poll workers! The “best” turnouts were 07-05 and 07-17 with 46 voters each. Of the 1,703 divisions in Philadelphia, a whopping 972 (57%) failed to attract 100 voters.

In Brewerytown’s 32-07, there are 1,002 residents registered, but only 26 people voted. That’s 2.6%. The overall turnout in the ward was 10.14%.

Outside of the 9th and 22nd Wards, turnout in the 8th City Council District went like this: 11th Ward: 12.46%; 12th Ward: 15.77%; 13th Ward: 13.99%; 17th Ward: 15.82%; 59th Ward: 18.59%; divisions 42-12, 42-13, 42-14, 42-16, 42-17, 42-20 and 42-21 combined: 8.8%; Divisions 49-01, 49-04, 49-05, 49-09, 49-10, 49-11, 49-12 combined: 11.8%.

The 7th Ward is south of City Hall in the Lombard, South and Bainbridge Streets areas. Ironically, at one time it had the largest Black population in the Northern United States, a community active politically and culturally in the late 19th century-early 20th century. There are a number of historical markers paying homage to black institutions and famous people who lived there. Renowned Black sociologist W.E.B. Dubois studied the 7th Ward for his 1899 book, The Philadelphia Negro. Among the famous residents were African-American abolitionist William Still, Harriet Tubman, when she escaped slavery, and Black voting rights activist Octavio Catto, who was murdered on Election Day, 1871, at 9th and South, and has a statue of himself outside City Hall. Among the historic landmarks are the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School on the 1500 block of Lombard Street, established in 1895, which provided health care for African-Americans and real-world experience for Black doctors and nurses since they were barred from other hospitals; The Douglass Hotel for African-American travellers, and the Institute for Colored Youth, founded in 1837 at the 700 block of Lombard, for the instruction of African-Americans to be teachers. In the 1850s, they operated the Boys and Girls High Schools, providing training for African-American teachers and creating a community hub.

Today, 7% of the residents are African-American. Now, it is mostly Hispanic/Latino and parts are gentrified. Voter turnouts like in this spring’s primary taint the legacy. 

This is a crisis. Democracy is under attack; we’re going to not-vote our way into its disappearance. Yet, an increase in turnout matching the city average could still make a difference in a close race.
There’s not a lot of voter engagement happening in these areas.  I looked at the 2022 committee person elections to see how many candidates ran. There are two committee people per division, so if two ran, it means the seats have been filled. If there were more than two candidates, it indicates more activity and interest. One candidate means only half the seats are filled and there’s no one to partner with. No candidates means there’s no representation for those divisions. The 30 divisions in this study with zero representation include 14,691 voters and the composite turnout was 13.58% in May. There are 223 divisions without Republican committee people and seven wards, though these wards may be in heavy Democratic areas. Bob Casey lost his U.S. Senate reelection in 2024 by 15,000 votes. Engagement matters.

Committee Person Candidates 2022 in Low Performing Wards

Ward	Democrats No. divisions=No. Candidates	Republicans No. divisions=No. Candidates
7	18=2; 2=3; 2=1; 1=0	23=0
32	21=2; 1=3; 3=1; 6=0	31=0
11 (8th CC District)	7=2; 0=3; 0=4; 3=1; 10=0	20=0
12 (8th CC District)	17=2; 1=3; 1=4; 5=1; 0=0	24=0
13 (8th CC District)	13=2; 0=3; 1=4; 7=1; 4=0	5=2; 0=3; 0=4; 5=1; 15=0
17 (8th CC District)	15=2; 2=3; 0=4; 8=1; 4=0	29=0
59 (8th CC District)	11=2; 0=3; 0=4; 11=1; 3=0	25=0
42–12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21 (8th CC District)	4=2; 0=3; 0=4; 1=1; 1=0	6=0
49-01, 04, 05, 09, 10, 11, 12 (8th CC District)	4=2; 0=3; 0=4; 1=1; 2=0	7=0
22 (Higher performing) (8th CC District)	19=2; 7=3; 3=4; 0=1; 0=0;	3=1; 26=0
9 (Higher performing) (8th CC District)	10=2; 1=3; 0=4; 4=1; 2=0	17=0