Philadelphia voters are expected to once again play a critical role this year in deciding who the next president will be and which party will control the U.S. Senate.
At the state level, they’ll help determine who comes out on top in key races for Attorney General and other positions. The winners will shape state policy for the next four years and advance along the track to possible future runs for governor and other higher offices.
In addition, a contested race for an open Pa. state House seat in Northeast Philly could be crucial in determining whether Democrats hold on to their one-vote majority in that legislative body or Republicans seize back control.
To help you figure it all out, we’ve pulled together the candidates Philly voters will see on their ballots, along with guidance on how and where to vote.
Here is the Procrastinator’s Guide to the 2024 General Election.
Your polling place
Are you registered? You can find your voter status here. Where do you vote? Find that here, along with what ward and division you’re in. You can enter your address here to find all of your district and representation info.
If you go vote in person, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Unless it’s your first time voting at a particular location, you do NOT need to show any identification.
Mail ballots
You don’t need a reason to vote by mail in Pennsylvania. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29. You can apply online, or you can apply and complete your ballot in a single visit to City Hall or any of the ten satellite election offices.
Mail ballots must be received by the Board of Elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 5, so be sure to mail them at least a week in advance! Postmarks do not count. Completed, properly sealed ballots can also be deposited in drop boxes around the city. Here’s a list of locations.
If you missed the deadline to apply for a mail ballot, you can submit an Emergency Absentee Ballot Application. See instructions and more information on mail ballots here.
You can’t drop a mail ballot off at a polling site on Election Day. However, if you decide not to use your mail ballot, you can surrender the ballot and envelope at your polling place and then vote in person. If you don’t have the ballot and envelope, you can follow the procedure for voting via Provisional Ballot.
Philadelphia and other jurisdictions in Pennsylvania recently redesigned their mail ballots to reduce voter errors and confusion. Here’s a description of the changes.
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Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz (Democrat)
Vice President Kamala Harris was officially nominated by the Democratic Party two weeks after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, following his shaky performance in the June 27 debate against former President Trump. Harris is the first woman of color to be a major party presidential nominee and her campaign fundraising has eclipsed Trump’s, surpassing $1 billion.
Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in August. The former high school teacher, football coach and National Guard veteran was reportedly chosen over the likes of Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. He was credited with the characterization of Republicans as “weird.”
Harris has made several visits to the Keystone State, though some of the state’s top Democrats have voiced concerns her campaign is not focused effectively on Philadelphia and its collar counties.
Donald J. Trump and JD Vance (Republican)
Despite losing Pa. in 2020, Trump actually won more votes in Philadelphia than he had in his previous run. He got almost 133,000 votes in 2020, compared to about 109,000 in 2016.
Trump selected Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a former U.S. Marine and author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” as his vice presidential running mate. Vance, like Trump, has questioned the results of the 2020 election.
Both Trump and Vance have also been frequent visitors to the Philly area, with the former president’s recent town hall in Montgomery County drawing headlines for involving more music and dancing than question answering, followed this weekend by a highly choreographed “shift” at a Bucks County McDonald’s to tweak Harris about her teen work history.
Chase Oliver and Mike Ter Maat (Libertarian)
Chase Oliver was born in Tennessee and lives in Atlanta. He ran in Georgia’s 5th congressional district election in 2020 after Rep. John Lewis died. Oliver made history as Georgia’s first openly gay Senate candidate when he ran against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022. His running mate Ter Maat is a former economist and retired police officer.
Oliver is pro-choice on abortion, supports expansive gun rights, wants to cut government spending and reduce federal debt, calls Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” that should be phased out, and supports marijuana legalization.
Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware (Green Party)
Physician and environmental health activist Jill Stein is running for the third time following campaigns in 2012 and 2016. Her running mate is Rudolph “Butch” Ware, an activist and historian of Africa and Islam at University of California Santa Barbara who earned his PhD at UPenn.
Stein’s platform includes a Green New Deal to fight climate change by banning fracking and other measures, a foreign policy that focuses on human rights and ending all U.S. wars and military activity in favor of using diplomacy, and ending systemic discrimination against women, minorities, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community.
Pennsylvania has one U.S. Senate race this year. Philly also has contests in its three U.S. House districts: two that cover most of the city and one that includes part of South Philly.
U.S. Senate
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (Democrat, incumbent)
Casey, a Scranton native and governor’s son, is seeking his fourth term and is the state’s longest-serving Democratic Senator in history.
His campaign platform is focused on shielding seniors, tackling the opioid crisis, fighting off “greedflation” and price gouging, and protecting democracy.
Dave McCormick (Republican)
McCormick is a veteran of the first Gulf War and former hedge fund CEO who narrowly lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary to Mehmet Oz. He’s a Pa. native who grew up in Bloomsburg, though his more recent residency status in the state has been questioned.
He is pro-life but claims to oppose a national abortion ban, and supports fracking and stricter immigration policies.
John C. Thomas (Libertarian)
Thomas, of Kittaning, Pa., is a school teacher and educator who describes himself as a devout Christian. When he previously ran unsuccessfully for a local school board seat, he argued in favor of school choice and combating the “so-called ‘woke’ agenda that has crept into our local schools,” saying that schools should “recognize the Biblical truth that God made them male and female.”
Leila Hazou (Green Party)
Hazou is a business owner in Pike County, in northeast Pa. A Palestinian-American, she opposes U.S. support for Israel and said she wants her candidacy to be an option for voters who feel the same. Hazou said she wants to oppose the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and she supports women’s rights, gay rights, and the end of systemic racism.
Marty Selker (Constitution Party)
Marty Selker grew up in Clarion County, in western Pa. He worked for and managed his family business until it closed in 2010, and then worked in construction and drove a truck. Selker said he is deeply concerned about the rise of inflation and U.S. participation in undeclared wars.
U.S. House of Representatives
2nd District
Brendan F. Boyle (Democrat, incumbent)
Boyle was a state rep for six years before becoming a U.S. House member in 2015. He’s supported Democratic causes like raising the minimum wage and protecting Social Security benefits, and won attention for mocking Trump by proposing the STABLE GENIUS Act, which would require presidents to undergo medical exams ensuring their fitness to serve.
Aaron Bashir (Republican)
Born in Pakistan, Bashir came to the U.S. in 2001 after surviving a close call with a rare blood disease. According to his campaign website, he has worked as an accountant, real estate investor, and professor, and is a Ph.D. candidate. His platform focuses on his Christian faith, job creation, cutting taxes, and the needs of seniors, veterans, and small business owners. Bashir previously challenged Boyle in 2022, ran against his brother state Rep. Kevin Boyle, and made a bid for City Controller last year.
3rd District
Dwight Evans (Democrat, incumbent)
Evans has served in the House since 2016 and before that was a state rep for 26 years. He also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor, governor, and mayor of Philadelphia. His House website cites his support for gun law reforms like universal background checks, policing and criminal justice reform, reducing health disparities, and small businesses.
5th District
Mary Gay Scanlon (Democrat, incumbent)
Scanlon is a public interest lawyer who has served in Congress since 2018. Her priorities include voting rights, access to justice, education, supporting economic growth for her region, common sense gun safety, and ending hunger.
Alfeia Goodwin (Republican)
Goodwin is a retired Philadelphia police officer and former Army chaplain. She has a company that invests in tiny homes for veterans, according to her LinkedIn profile. When she previously ran for the Pa. House as a Libertarian, she reportedly said she stood for safer communities, election integrity, and defending the Constitution.
The attorney general is the state’s top prosecutor, tasked with investigating and charging thousands of criminal cases every year. Past AGs, including Josh Shapiro and Tom Corbett, have gone on to become governor.
Eugene DePasquale (Democrat)
DePasquale represented central Pa.’s York County in the Pa. House, served as state auditor from 2013 to 2021, and ran for Congress against Rep. Scott Perry in 2020. He cited “protecting democracy” as his top priority, along with protecting abortion rights, consumers, and the environment, and ensuring public safety
Dave Sunday (Republican)
Sunday is York County’s District Attorney and previously served as a prosecutor for the county and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As DA, he says he helped cut crime by nearly one-third in his first term, reduced the prison population, and instituted a successful anti-recidivism program. He has said public safety and the opioid epidemic are his top priorities, and the failure to prosecute people for illegal firearms possession is a top cause of crime.
Robert Cowburn (Libertarian)
Robert Cowburn is a Pittsburgh trial attorney who heads the city’s Libertarian Party. Cases he worked on included Ritter v. Migliori, in which the state Supreme Court rejected an attempt to stop the counting of some undated mail ballots. His platform includes promoting charter schools, ensuring parental involvement in education, enhancing government transparency, deregulating the economy, and enabling Pennsylvania to nullify federal laws that encroach on “state sovereignty.”
Richard L. Weiss (Green Party)
Richard L. Weiss is an attorney from Allegheny County in western Pa. He ran for the Senate in 2022 with a platform endorsing a person’s right to terminate a pregnancy at up to 20 weeks and a progressive income tax that maxes out at 10% for the wealthiest Americans, with no deductions. As AG he would push for the capping of fracking wells, reduce incarceration, sue the federal government to stop U.S. military support for Israel, enact a gift ban for Pa. politicians, and focus on prosecuting police misconduct.
Justin L. Magill (Constitution Party)
Magill is an Army veteran and lawyer in Erie, in far northwest Pa., and serves as national chairman of the Constitution Party. He says the purpose of government is “to secure our God-given individual rights” and he would focus on protecting individual rights.
Eric L. Settle (Forward Party)
Settle is a former Republican and attorney who served as deputy general counsel to Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge, focusing on healthcare and the environment. He co-founded the Republicans for Josh Shapiro group. He advocates for open primaries, ranked-choice voting, an end to legislative gerrymandering, firearms control to reduce violence, and better environmental protection, and would crack down on unscrupulous financial salespeople.
The auditor general is the state government’s spending watchdog, conducting some 3,500 audits a year of government agencies and programs. See this article for more detailed profiles of the candidates.
Malcom Kenyatta (Democrat)
Kenyatta is a third-term state rep in Philadelphia and the first openly LGBTQ person of color in the state legislature. He ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2022. He says he would “rebuild” the state auditor’s Bureau of School Audits, create an office of labor and work protections to oppose wage theft and other violations, and seek transparency on how hospitals and long-term care providers use state funds. He’s also running for reelection to the state House, but would step down if elected AG.
Tim DeFoor (incumbent, Republican)
DeFoor was elected the state’s first Black auditor in 2020. He previously served as Dauphin County Controller, and as a special agent in the state Attorney General and Inspector General’s offices. As auditor, he says he has “transformed and improved” the way the office does school audits, and launched a statewide initiative to advocate for financial literacy instruction in K-12 schools.
Reece Smith (Libertarian)
Smith graduated from Allegheny College this year, lives in Crafton, near Pittsburgh, and works as a financial planning intern, per the Bucks County Beacon. He would do more audits of state programs, offices, and elected officials, and better publicize audit results.
Eric K. Anton (American Solidarity Party)
Eric Anton is state coordinator for his party in Pennsylvania and has served on its national committee. The American Solidarity Party says it’s based on the “tradition of Christian democracy,” is pro-life, opposes the death penalty, calls for social justice and addressing systemic racial injustice, and champions the centrality of the family, cooperative ownership of property, care for the environment, and global peace.
Bob Goodrich (Constitution Party)
Goodrich is a Tioga County resident, in north-central Pa., who runs a small private Christian school. He served in the U.S. Army for 25 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel. He previously ran for Auditor General in 2012 before dropping out and ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner last year. The Constitution Party is an “ultraconservative” party that favors gun rights, opposes immigration reform, would leave the United Nations, and favors phasing out Social Security.
The treasurer is the state’s financial custodian, who watches over more than $100 billion in taxpayer dollars. See this article for detailed profiles of the candidates.
Erin McClelland (Democrat)
McClelland is an addiction counselor, health program manager, and small business owner from the Pittsburgh area who has twice run for a congressional seat representing parts of western Pa. Her campaign website says she’ll improve the state’s cybersecurity infrastructure, oppose pension privatization, and press solar panel makers and other companies to comply with labor and trade regulations. After she criticized Gov. Shapiro earlier this year, he declined to endorse her.
Stacy Garrity (incumbent, Republican)
Garrity was elected in 2020. She was previously a U.S. Army Reserve colonel and worked in government affairs at a metallurgy company, and she once ran for Congress. She touts her work upgrading Treasury’s website to provide better access to state budget info and overseeing the system for returning unclaimed property to owners, and reducing fees in the PA 529 college savings program. She’s been criticized for endorsing Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.
Nickolas Ciesielski (Libertarian)
Ciesielski hails from Pittsburgh and is a mechanical engineer with a degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He founded the Libertarian Party Bitcoin Caucus and serves as the chairman of the Libertarian Party of western Pa.’s Westmoreland County. He would privatize government services, promote state energy production, promote use of gold and cryptocurrency, oppose civil asset forfeiture, and refuse to issue state bonds in order to reduce debt.
Troy Bowman (Constitution Party)
Bowman is a military veteran and former Republican who works in information technology, per Lancaster Online. He said he joined the Constitution Party because he believes the GOP lacks the discipline to cut government spending.
Chris Foster (Forward Party)
Chris Foster of Pittsburgh is an entrepreneur and former Democrat and is now running with Andrew Yang’s Forward Party. He would work to improve financial literacy, streamline Treasury operations, maximize returns on investments, and focus on “breaking partisan barriers.”
Four state senators representing Philadelphia are up for reelection this year. There’s one Republican candidate, who is challenging the incumbent Democrat in the 5th District.
1st District
Nikil Saval (Democrat, incumbent)
Saval was elected in 2020 when he unseated three-term incumbent Larry Farnese in the primary. His campaign calls for making Pennsylvania “a leader in mass liberation” in its criminal justice system, increasing the supply of affordable housing, and transforming the state’s infrastructure to address climate change. He co-founded the progressive activist group Reclaim Philadelphia in 2016.
3rd District
Sharif Street (Democrat, incumbent)
The son of former Mayor John Street, Street served as a Senate staffer before being elected in 2016. He’s the chair of the Pa. Democratic Party and ran for U.S. Senate in 2021. Street has introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use and, in the past, worked to create the state’s health insurance exchange, combat climate change, and reform the criminal justice system and state gun laws.
5th District
Jimmy Dillon (Democrat, incumbent)
Dillon won a 2022 special election to replace John Sabatina, who resigned to become a judge. He’s worked as a grant compliance monitor for Philly’s school district and owns a basketball academy. Dillon touts his work to control rent increases, prevent minors from gambling, and protect sports officials from harassment, and his support for “common sense” gun legislation. Republicans have sought to highlight racist and homophobic tweets posted on his basketball business account from 2011 and 2015; he denies posting them, saying other members of the coaching staff had access to the account.
Joe Picozzi (Republican)
Picozzi is a first-time candidate who served on the Philadelphia Youth Commission after being appointed by Councilmember Brian O’Neill, according to the Northeast Times. He’s a Georgetown University graduate who worked as a staff assistant for former U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, per his LinkedIn profile.
Picozzi says he’s focused on “fighting back against progressive prosecutors,” increasing funding for police and education, and reducing energy costs and Philly’s payroll tax.
7th District
Vincent Hughes (Democrat, incumbent)
Hughes has represented the 7th District since 1994 and previously served in the Pa. House. He chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Hughes touts his work crafting state budgets, expanding affordable housing, supporting violence prevention programs, and funding grants for small businesses. He’s married to “Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Philly has 26 districts in the Pa. House, some of which stretch into the surrounding counties. These seats are up for reelection every two years. Only one seat has a competitive race; in the other 25, the incumbent or a single candidate is running unopposed.
172nd District
Sean Dougherty (Democrat)
Dougherty is an attorney who previously worked for the Defender Association of Philadelphia and clerked for Pa. Supreme Court Justice Daniel McCaffery. He’s the son of state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty and nephew of former IBEW 98 union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, and prosecutors in Johnny Doc’s corruption trial said Local 98 paid Sean Dougherty wages for weeks when he wasn’t actually working.
Dougherty says his priorities are keeping the community safe and the justice system fair, funding schools adequately, creating good-paying jobs with fair wages that support families, and protecting reproductive freedoms.
Aiziz Gill (Republican)
Gill is a consultant who has worked for former City Commissioner Al Schmidt and for Councilmember Brian O’Neill’s reelection campaign. He immigrated with his parents from Pakistan when he was 9 and is president of the Burholme Civic Association.
Gill says he would support efforts to impeach District Attorney Larry Krasner and pass laws aiming to prosecute gun crimes, illegal firearm possession, and drug dealing. He favors more school funding, school choice, and controls on state spending to help curb inflation.
Uncontested races
In most of the state House races the incumbent is the only candidate. In the 201st, Rep. Stephen Kinsey isn’t running for reelection, and just one candidate is running to succeed him.
10th District – Amen Brown (Democrat, incumbent)
170th District – Martina White (Republican, incumbent)
173rd District – Pat Gallagher (Democrat, incumbent)
174th District – Ed Neilson (Democrat, incumbent)
175th District – MaryLouise Isaacson (Democrat, incumbent)
177th District – Joe Hohenstein (Democrat, incumbent)
179th District – Jason Dawkins (Democrat, incumbent)
180th District – Jose A. Giral (Democrat, incumbent)
181st District – Malcolm Kenyatta (Democratic, incumbent)
182nd District – Ben Waxman (Democrat, incumbent)
184th District – Elizabeth Fiedler (Democrat, incumbent)
185th District – Regina G. Young (Democrat, incumbent)
186th District – Jordan A. Harris (Democrat, incumbent)
188th District – Rick Krajewski (Democrat, incumbent)
190th District – G. Roni Green (Democrat, incumbent)
191st District – Joanna E. McClinton (Democrat, incumbent)
192nd District – Morgan Cephas (Democrat, incumbent)
194th District – Tarik Khan (Democrat, incumbent)
195th District – Donna Bullock (Democrat, incumbent)
197th District – Danilo Burgos (Democrat, incumbent)
198th District – Darisha K. Parker (Democrat, incumbent)
200th District – Chris Rabb (Democrat, incumbent)
201st District – Andre D. Carroll (Democrat)
202nd District – Jared Solomon (Democrat, incumbent)
203rd District – Anthony Bellmon (Democrat, incumbent)
