It’s not always sunny for Philadelphia Democrats

Over the last decade, local Democratic groups in Pennsylvania have bolstered the party’s turnout operation all across the commonwealth.

Liberal groups in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh, have converted a blue-leaning area into a Democratic behemoth. In the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia, Democrats have helped turn these former Republican strongholds blue. Labor groups across the state have maintained a strong turnout operation.

Yet the Philadelphia Democratic Party remains stuck in the proverbial mud, with turnout lagging behind other corners of the commonwealth. Some Democrats in the city lay the blame on Bob Brady, a former congressman who has chaired the Philadelphia Democratic Party since 1986.

“I am incredibly worried [about turnout in Philadelphia], and I don’t have a lot of confidence in Bob Brady,” said Rebecca Poyourow, a former committeewoman who was ousted for supporting the progressive-leaning Working Families Party.

The stakes couldn’t be greater for President Biden. Pennsylvania has more Electoral College votes than any other battleground state and is also a bellwether for the rest of the country. If Biden retains the commonwealth, former President Trump will have to win most of the other swing states if he wants to make it back into the White House. As if that wasn’t enough, the state is also home to a must-win Senate race for the Democratic Party.

Brady acknowledged his city’s turnout struggles, while rejecting the criticism that some of his fellow Democrats have lobbed against him.

“You’re right. The turnout [in Philadelphia] is low,” Brady told National Journal. “We know it, and we’ve got to boost it, and we’re trying to incentivize these ward leaders who are trying to get it done.”

Democrats’ turnout struggles in Philadelphia aren’t new, but they are manifold. Turnout in the city was 66 percent in the 2020 election, 12 points lower than the rest of the commonwealth and less than every individual county, according to a National Journal analysis of election data. In the presidential primary last month, turnout was lower than 10 percent in four of Philadelphia’s 66 wards, plunging below 6 percent in the 7th Ward. In three statewide elections over the last two years, more people voted in absolute terms in Allegheny County, which has over 130,000 fewer registered voters than Philadelphia.

“We have more boots on the ground and people who feel they have power to influence the system,” Pittsburgh Democratic Committee Chair Leeann Shaw Younger told National Journal.

Brady, though, ascribed Allegheny County’s high turnout in recent elections to the large number of contested races, including Democratic Rep. Summer Lee’s primary battle in the 12th District.

“We had no races. They had a ton of races. They had school-board races. They had an executive race. They had municipal races,” Brady said, referring to the 2023 general election. “We had hardly anything. You talk about the general, we had a mayor’s race that nobody cared about.”

Democratic groups in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties also appear to be outshining Philadelphia, building off the nationwide backlash to Trump in the suburbs, and helping to turn the former Republican heartlands into deep-blue territory. Biden bested Trump by 17 points in Chester County—Mitt Romney carried the county in 2012 by half a point.

“Since 2016, a lot of people have been much more engaged,” said Chester County Democratic Party Vice Chair Jerry Payne, before voicing his own concerns about turnout in Philadelphia.

The city is also a very expensive media market, rendering political advertising extremely expensive.

But many strategists and operatives pointed fingers at Brady and the city’s arcane turnout operation. The city elects 3,406 Democratic committee people—two for each of the 1,703 divisions—and 66 ward leaders, one for each ward. These local officials lead the get-out-the-vote effort. Some have had success: Almost 40 percent of registered voters in the 9th Ward drew a ballot in the presidential primary. Others, like the 7th—a predominantly Hispanic area that includes St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children—have struggled.

“The Hispanic wards’ turnout [was] very low, and we’re trying to work on that,” Brady said.

There have been efforts to right the ship. In 2021, Laura Boyce, a committeewoman in the 2nd Ward, handed party leaders a list of recommendations for how they can help improve the city’s turnout operation. The suggestions included creating a newsletter for the city’s ward leaders and committee people and developing a series of monthly events and trainings for officials. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the city party didn’t listen to them, but Brady disagrees.

“We did do it,” the city’s Democratic leader said. “We just didn’t do it the way she wanted to do it.” He also noted that Boyce had praised him in a recent email.

But Fred Dedrick, a committeeman in the 22nd Ward, is not convinced.

“In two years, I’ve seen very little activity from the [city] party … to engage with its committee people or its members,” said Dedrick, who became a committeeman two years ago.

Dedrick said that part of the issue is a lack of incentives for those trying to turn out voters. He noted that Montgomery County has found a way to plug this gap by celebrating committee people who boost turnout.

Other Democratic strategists, though critical of Brady, argued that Philadelphia’s problems are bigger than any one person. One said that labor unions and other local groups will be far more important in terms of getting out the vote. Another noted that Brady, who has a solid relationship with the president, can’t impede the Biden campaign, which already has several campaign offices in the city.

Biden, who has been struggling to rouse his young, diverse, and urban base, has visited the Philadelphia area more than 20 times since becoming president.

But that hasn’t stopped Dedrick from demanding more from Brady in terms of helping his committee people ahead of the presidential election. He argued that the only thing the city’s Democratic leader currently does for these local officials is invite them to a summer party at his home in Wildwood, New Jersey.

“It’s like the Romans used to do—‘bread and circuses,’” Dedrick said.