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Philly Council President Darrell Clarke gets first challenger since 2011

Council President Darrell Clarke, a 20 year incumbent, is facing a serious challenge from Omar Woodard, a nonprofit leader.

Omar Woodard, who is running against Darrell Clarke for City Council, is pictured here speaking for Anthony Williams at a 2015 Mayoral forum in Philadelphia. (STEPHANIE AARONSON / The Next Mayor)
Omar Woodard, who is running against Darrell Clarke for City Council, is pictured here speaking for Anthony Williams at a 2015 Mayoral forum in Philadelphia. (STEPHANIE AARONSON / The Next Mayor)Read more

Omar Woodard, a nonprofit leader and former campaign strategist, is taking on City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, one of the city’s best known and most powerful politicians.

Woodard, who announced his run this week, joins a growing list of competitive candidates challenging district incumbents in the May 21 primary. With two weeks to go until the deadline to file petitions to get on the ballot, all 10 district Council members have at least one challenger, a shift from 2015, when eight ran unopposed.

“I assume you’re going to have six or seven of the 10 district Council people truly primaried,” said longtime Democratic political adviser Neil Oxman. "And I don’t mean kooks. I’m talking about legitimate races, where the incumbent better take the race seriously.”

Oxman attributes the slate in part to a growing antiestablishment attitude among voters, and some bad press for current Council members caught up in suspicious land deals or, in the case of 6th District Councilman Bobby Henon, a federal indictment.

“I’m not saying any of these people are going to win," Oxman said, “but they’re going to make the incumbents sweat.”

Woodard has been on the cusp of political action since 2015, when he flirted with a run for the state Senate. A prospective U.S. House campaign also failed to materialize last year.

Now he aims to knock out Clarke, who is seeking a sixth term representing the 5th District, which includes parts of Center City and stretches west and into North Philadelphia.

Woodard tries to avoid talking directly about Clarke, saying his run for office is “about the last 40 years in the district,” which includes the North Philly neighborhood where he grew up. Woodard spent some of his childhood in public housing; both parents were incarcerated.

Woodard, 35, says quality of life in the 5th District has not improved for many residents during his lifetime. The four-decade span includes time Clarke spent as a staffer to then-City Council President John F. Street, who represented the district before becoming mayor in 2000.

“I admire that service,” Woodard said of Clarke. “But the poverty rate in that district has gotten worse.”

Clarke, who has not had a challenger on the ballot since the 2011 primary, reported $195,000 in his campaign account as of Dec. 31.

Woodard said he had not secured the support of any political action committees, unions, or other organizations to help fund his campaign. Instead, he plans a grassroots run funded by individual contributions.

“The systemic challenge of politics is, we feel like, in order to run for office, we have to rely on the people who can cut you $3,000 checks,” said Woodard, citing the city’s campaign contribution limit for individuals. “That gives you the political outcome that you have, that is tilted toward those who have access and influence. That’s not the campaign I’m running.”

Woodard is on leave from his job running the Philadelphia office of a nine-city nonprofit, the Greenlight Fund, which works with communities to identify their needs and then invests in solutions. He also worked previously as a staffer for State Sen. Anthony H. Williams and then on Williams’ 2015 campaign for mayor.

“My background, working across government, business, nonprofits, and philanthropy — we need that level of experience because the challenges require that level of experience,” he said.

Woodard is not Clarke’s only primary challenger. Sheila Armstrong, who ran unsuccessfully in 2015 for an at-large Council seat as an independent, is also gathering signatures for a spot on the Democratic ballot.

Asked what he thought about Woodard and whether the race would be tighter than usual, Clarke said only that his formal reelection campaign announcement would come shortly.

Other races to watch so far include the 3rd District, where Jamie Gauthier, former head of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, is challenging Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who has held the West Philadelphia seat since 1992.

Gauthier was raised in Kingsessing and now lives in the Garden Court section of West Philadelphia. She said she’s encouraged to see so many long-standing members of Council facing challengers.

“We deserve choices, new ideas being brought to the table," Gauthier said. “It’s an outcome of what’s happening nationally. People are wanting to see newer leaders, people are hungry for new ideas. People are wanting to make sure we have a pipeline for leadership.”

Blackwell declined to comment on Gauthier last week but said it was unlikely she would debate her.

Lauren Vidas, a lawyer and a lobbyist who worked under Mayor Michael Nutter and former Councilman Bill Green, is running against Kenyatta Johnson in the 2nd District. Vidas said she’s running because she’s been discouraged by “broken promises” related to development in neighborhoods and at the airport and Navy Yard, both in the district.

Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez will again face Democratic Party-backed State Rep. Angel Cruz in the typically contentious 7th District race.

Henon, indicted on government corruption charges, is being challenged in the 6th District by Deborah Young, a political novice and an advocate for the homeless who lives in Mayfair.

Also in the 6th District primary, former Philadelphia Traffic Court Judge Mike Lowry, who went to prison for lying to federal investigators, is circulating petitions to run. He declined to comment Thursday.

An initial version of this article misreported City Council candidate Omar Woodard’s age.