Skip to content Skip to footer

After Pennsylvania Redistricting, Democratic Party Leaders Try to Pick Their Own Primary Winner

Democratic leaders aren’t soliciting community feedback.

Betty Jane Hansen, 91, casts her vote at the volunteer fire department during Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district special election on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Salwan Georges / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Betty Jane Hansen, 91, casts her vote at the volunteer fire department during Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District special election on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Salwan Georges / The Washington Post via Getty Images)Betty Jane Hansen, 91, casts her vote at the volunteer fire department during Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district special election on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Salwan Georges / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

After the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court ruled that congressional district lines throughout the state were “unconstitutional,” and ordered them to be redrawn, Democratic Party leaders are looking to capitalize in congressional districts where the political demographics now favor Democrats.

The shift of Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district from one safe for Republicans to one that is now strong for Democrats has incited a flood of 14 Democratic candidates vying for the Party’s nomination there. Hillary Clinton won the originally drawn district by 2 percentage points, but the newly drawn district by 28 points — the most dramatic shift of all 18 congressional districts caused by Pennsylvania’s redistricting, which has favored Democrats overall.

In the 5th district’s Democratic primary, Delaware County Democratic Party leaders are bracing to clash with Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a politically powerful union based in Philadelphia that is backing one of their allies, Rich Lazer. The union has spent $500,000 on Republican candidates in the county, where Republicans have historically dominated.

In a March 7 email, Delaware County Democratic Committee Chairman David Landau outlines an interview process meant to “reach a consensus on the best candidate.” In contrast, however, the Delaware County Democratic Committee will formally endorse their preferred candidate. Landau said the large field of primary candidates poses a challenge that the County Democratic Committee wants to reduce by directly determining who is the best candidate for the district.

In another email sent out on March 26, the Delaware County Democratic Committee released six candidates they recommended in the race leading up to a nominating convention to be held on April 8. The recommended candidates included George Badey, Shelly Chauncey, Thaddeus Kirkland, Ashley Lunkenheimer, Dan Muroff and Mary Gay Scanlon.

The Delaware County Democratic Party did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The newly drawn 5th congressional district in Pennsylvania includes all of Delaware County and parts of south Philadelphia, southwestern Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pennsylvania) has represented the district since 2008, though the redrawn district borders have turned it 13 percentage points in favor of Democrats, according to the Cook Partisan Index.

Representative Meehan announced his retirement in January 2018 shortly after reports surfaced that he used taxpayer money to settle a sexual misconduct complaint made against him by a former aide.

As the Delaware County Democrats look to back their own candidate in opposition to a powerful, politically-tied union in Philadelphia, progressives and other candidates outside the county are caught in the crossfire.

“I went into my endorsement interview knowing that I wouldn’t be recommended by the committee, because a young Chinese-American woman isn’t exactly their idea of an ideal candidate. Indeed, during the interview, I shared my prediction with them, which none of them even bothered to deny,” said Lindy Li, a Princeton Graduate running for the 5th district, in an interview with Truthout. “Voters should choose their elected officials without the machine interfering.” Li, at 27 years old, would be the youngest member of congress if elected.

“It is an evolving process and we’re still not sure what process they’re going to use to make an endorsement,” said Molly Sheehan, a Democratic candidate backed by Our Revolution-Southeast Pennsylvania running in the 5th district. “One of the biggest concerns we are hearing from committee people is they are going to release their recommended list of candidates at the same time as the criteria they are using to select those candidates, so there’s no room for community feedback even from committee members and there’s a lot of dissatisfaction with that process.”

A medical researcher with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, Sheehan is running on single-payer and campaign-finance reform. She currently resides just outside of the district with her in-laws who help with child care, but she owns a house in the Philadelphia portion of the district, where she has lived for seven years. She and Dan Muroff are the only candidates who were filed to run in the race prior to the court-mandated redistricting that made the race more competitive for Democrats. Muroff lives in Delaware County and served as a legislative staffer to four congressional representatives, including chief of staff to Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts). Michael Capuano (MA-08)

“The wins in 2017 happened because the resistance was activated…. They had a lot of people excited to work for the candidates who had stepped up to run. They need to make sure those people stay engaged by having an open democratic process that actually engages the community,” Sheehan said.

Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn

Dear Truthout Community,

If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.

We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.

Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.

There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.

After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?

It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.

We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.

We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.

Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.

We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.

With love, rage, and solidarity,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy