Reclaim Philadelphia’s Second Round of Endorsements for City Council
Reclaim Philadelphia’s Second Round of Endorsements for City Council
The results of our 2nd round member endorsement vote for City Council are in. Hundreds of Reclaim’s dues paying members have chosen to endorse the following candidates for City Council, in addition to our first round endorsements of Helen Gym for Mayor and Amanda McIllmurray for City Council at Large:
Erika Almirón, Isaiah Thomas, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and Rue Landau for City Council at Large. In District 3, members voted to endorse Jamie Gauthier and in District 8, Seth Anderson Oberman. In the Non Majority City Council seats that will be voted on in November, members have voted to endorse Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke.
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Our full endorsed slate, including Helen Gym and Amanda McIllmurray, includes champions on all our important issues, reflects the diversity of our city, and taken as a whole, represents the possibility of significant progress on Council.
Erika Almiròn - A stalwart of the reproductive justice and immigrant rights’ movements, her platform this year speaks powerfully to the intersection of climate justice and economic justice, mass incarceration, immigrant rights and workers’ rights. If elected, she would be Philadelphia’s first Latina At-Large member: a distinction that is long overdue.
Isaiah Thomas - Working with hospitality worker union UNITE HERE, he took on the hotel industry to ensure that housekeepers won their jobs back after being laid-off during the pandemic. His landmark Driving Equality legislation, which ensures that Philadelphia residents are not stopped by police for routine traffic matters, has won nationwide acclaim as a model for anti-carceral movements.
Katherine Gilmore Richardson - Passed legislation in her first year requiring transparency in the City’s contract negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police. A staunch ally of organized labor, she has worked tirelessly to create more pathways for Black and Brown residents into union jobs. In addition, she was the single largest supporter at the city level of the Reclaim-supported Whole-Home Repairs program for PA.
Rue Landau has a distinguished history as a tenants’ rights attorney and activist for LGBTQ+ rights. She cut her teeth as an organizer with ACT UP, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization. As an attorney at Community Legal Services, she helped thousands of low-income renters avoid eviction. If elected, she would become the first out lesbian member of City Council, where she would be what she has been for many years: a transformative and enduring leader in the movement for social justice.
Jamie Gauthier has passed legislation to ensure equity in development, including a pilot initiative that requires developers to make 20 percent of their apartments affordable in order to exceed zoning requirements. Her Just Services campaign, which pointed to the deep inequity in basic city services between neighborhoods, recognizes that equitable investment, rather than increases in policing or incarceration, are the most effective responses to quality-of-life issues and community violence.
Seth Anderson Oberman’s decades of organizing with the American Federation of Teachers and SEIU lay a solid foundation for the coalition-building we need in City Council. In response to our question about addressing community safety, he proposes to triple funding for public housing to reduce homelessness and help provide housing stability. This proposed approach to addressing our community violence and housing crises together shows understanding that we need deep investment instead of over policing to heal and reverse the trauma of disinvestment.
Kendra Brooks made history in 2019 when she ran as a Working Families Party candidate and successfully took one of Philadelphia’s two “minority party” seats away from the Republican Party. Brooks was a lead drafter of the Emergency Housing Protection Act, which helped keep thousands of Philadelphians in their homes. She has protected community gardens, introduced legislation to tax the rich, and is poised to hold hearings on rent control: a program that represents a coherent and powerful effort to put power in the hands of working-class Philadelphians.
Nicolas O’Rourke is one of the most dynamic organizers in the city. The child of a union household, he would bring into office his diverse experiences leading a congregation in northeast Philadelphia and an organizing director with the Working Families Party. During the 2020 election, he led an extraordinary effort to support counting every vote, despite incredible pressure from the Trump Administration. His candidacy represents a critical chance to unseat the last At-Large Republican on Philadelphia’s City Council. We believe deeply in his vision for working closely with social movements.
Amanda McIllmurray - Since our founding as an organization in 2016, Amanda McIllmurray has been a key force behind Reclaim Philadelphia’s values and strategy. Amanda has been leading, learning, and growing—as an organizer, a winning campaign director, and as Reclaim’s Political Director. Without Amanda’s organizing, leadership, and vision, we would not have nearly so many people elected to office from our movement—from State Representative Elizabeth Fiedler to State Senator Nikil Saval. With her decision to run for City Council At-Large, we know that she will be taking that work to an even higher level—and Philly’s multiracial working class will reap the benefits.
Helen Gym - Helen has an incomparable track record of accomplishment on City Council. Her office has been a major driver in: securing an additional $50 million dollars in the budget for community violence prevention, ending the 17-year state takeover of Philadelphia’s schools and fighting to restore nurses, counselors, arts, music, and clean water to every public school; building the most successful eviction prevention program in the nation and winning guaranteed legal defense for renters; expanding funding for mental health crisis response teams and intervention programs for high-risk youth; passing Philadelphia’s cutting-edge Fair Workweek law guaranteeing workers stable schedules; fighting youth homelessness and courageously shining a light on abuses in Philadelphia’s residential youth homes when few others cared, and maintaining Philadelphia as a welcoming city for immigrants.
“I’m proud of the organizing work that went into this compelling slate and know that it is a reflection of the alignment Reclaim has built with allied movement partners across the city,” said Sergio Cea, Political Director of Reclaim Philadelphia. “When our movement is united, the people of Philadelphia win! From the streets to the ballot box, we are committed to elevating working class and working poor leaders to elected office. We look forward to continuing to put in the work to elect people’s champions who we can trust to fight for all of us.”
Our goal is to continue to grow a people-powered movement that has resources and sustainability so we all can thrive. Our city deserves to have champions for our people who will make our communities safe with mobile crisis units, real affordable housing and investment in public services and spaces, instead of continuing to overfund the police department. From October to December of 2020, 1,345 Philadelphia residents responded to the Safety We Can Feel Survey. Here are some key findings:
The city is not prioritizing key services for funding
Affordable housing, mental health services, and public schools & community colleges were the essential services respondents said the city prioritized the LEAST for funding. Community violence prevention, drug treatment, and youth recreational programming were also frequent choices.
We see the Mayoral and City Council elections as two of the most important races for elevating and pushing forward our progressive vision in this year’s Municipal Elections. At Reclaim, we’re committed to building progressive political power through training and investment of leaders in our movement.
Sign up here to join us and volunteer in our primary election organizing!
Invest in our canvass program by making a donation here!