Photographing the political long-shots, underdogs, and runners-up

Scene Through the Lens with photographer Tom Gralish.

The signature half-rose stained glass window of the 1891 Grace Baptist Church is reflected in a glass wall inside the Temple Performing Arts Center, as a spring concert by Temple University Music Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians gets underway below. A school started at the church so working men unable to afford traditional college could attend at night eventually became Temple University, and the congregation relocated to the suburbs. Over the years the building deteriorated and in 1986 university trustees voted to demolish it. Public outcry and help from the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia convinced Temple’s leaders to preserve the building, and a few years and $30 million later the old church was reborn in 2010 as a 1200-seat, multipurpose state-of-the-art event center. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Published May 30, 2026, 5:01 a.m. ET

I’ll blame it on the Beaver. Not the one in the wholesome “golly gee” iconic black and white television sitcom of 50s and `60s, but my road trip to Buc-ee’s. Editing the hundreds of photos and writing last week’s column — combined with a busy Memorial Day weekend — took a lot out of me.

Before mine and Stephanie Farr’s Buc-ee’s columns came out, Pennsylvania had a primary election, with Philadelphia’s tightly contested 3rd Congressional District the biggest race of the day. The 3rd is the bluest district in the whole country so the Democratic winner is likely to win the seat in November’s general election.

I did not get the assignment to photograph the winner. You can call it luck of the draw, but I actually prefer — after covering many, many elections over the decades — hanging around and photographing the long-shots, underdogs, and runners-up.

On election eve I was at a get-out-the-vote rally for State Sen. Sharif Street (he ended up finishing second).

Supporters of State Sen. Sharif Street at a get-out-the-vote rally at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia Monday, May 18, 2026 on the day before Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for the 3rd Congressional District.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Former Mayor John F. Street (right) is acknowledged by supporters of his son, State Sen. Sharif Street (left).Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady (left) and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (right) listen as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks in support of Street.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Mayor Parker and Sen. Street.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

State Rep. Morgan Cephas at the rally, She was a candidate for the same seat, but withdrew early in the race.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Mayor Parker stays cool with a personal fan. She has no qualms about using the hand-held fan, often mentioning it during hot-weather public events, as here on the first day of a heatwave that topped the all-time official high temperature for any May day of 97 degrees.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Sen. Booker (left) takes his turn speaking in support of Sen. Street's candidacy.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (left) joins Street (speaking).Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

State Street finishes his talk.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson (from left) , State House Speaker Joanna McClinton, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker; State Sen. Sharif Street; and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker join hands at the rally.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (center, right) joins State Sen. Sharif Street (center, left) and others in prayer at the conclusion of the rally.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

State Rep. Morgan Cephas (from left), April Street, and State House Speaker Joanna McClinton pose for a photo following the get-out-the-vote rally for Street’s husband, State Sen. Sharif Street.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Sen. Booker takes selfies with supporters following the rally.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Supporters of State Sen. Sharif Street distribute campaign materials following a get-out-the-vote rally at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia Monday, May 18, 2026 on the day before Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for the 3rd Congressional District.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

One of the visual highlights was an appearance by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker. I spent time with him in Iowa during his short-lived 2020 presidential campaign. And since then, often on his home turf, in New Jersey.

He is absolutely the best selfie-taker of any politician I have ever photographed, and that trip to Iowa produced my all-time favorite selfie. You can see me in the background — right behind the helpful photography tip a supporter’s cell phone offered — as Booker took a selfie with her after a BBQ fundraiser in Marshalltown. (He cleared the message before taking the photo.)

On election night, I was at the watch party for physician Ala Stanford (she came in third).

Supporters wait for Ala Stanford to arrives at her election night watch party in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District seat Tuesday, May 19, 2026.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The candiates mother, Carolyn Stanford, speaks to supporters.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Stanford arrives at her watch party to make her concession speech.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

As Stanford steps to the microphones a worker moves to unplug the television monitor showing winner State Rep. Chris Rabb (left).Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Stanford ends her bid for the 3rd Congressional District seat "To me," the physician and public health leader said to supporters, "doing this work is an extension of the mission I have had my entire life — to improve the lives of others," Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

In her concession speech Ala Stanford tells her election night supporters that she is hopeful for the future and thankful for her faith.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Ala Stanford makes her concession speech, election night Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District seat.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Ala Stanford greets supporters after her speech.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Supporters reach out to Stanford after she conceeded.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Ala Stanford with her husband, Byron Drayton, and supporters hold hands and pray after she made her concession speech on election night.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Memorial Day weekend started for me with the annual observance of traditional Decoration Day in Laurel Hill Cemetery. The historic cemetery was the site of Philadelphia’s first Decoration Day in 1868, paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers and flags. What is now known as Memorial Day became a national holiday in 1971.

Portraying Civil War General Ambrose E. Burnside, Mike Gabriele of Willow Grove checks his cellphone before the annual observance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Beck's Philadelphia Brigade Band performs in the cemetery. The band is a Civil War-era brass band based in South Jersey that performs 19th-century music wearing period-accurate uniforms and play vintage or historically reproduced instruments. They interpret the famous Beck Band No. 1, a prominent brass band that entertained crowds in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1876.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Visitors follow the color guard in procession. Earlier hundreds of flags and flowers were placed on the graves of veterans.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

A color guard made up of members of various local Civil War reenactment units during the observance. The re-creation is an annual tradition of the Gen. George B. Meade Post No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Kerry Bryan, of Center City, the recording secretary of American Legion Benjamin Franklin Post #405 participates in the observance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The color guard fires a salute.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

“Bugler” Bud Gressman of Vineland, N.J. plays taps on his E flat cornet.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Buttons for the Nation’s 250th birthday and 158th Decoration Day.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Participants gather at the “Silent Sentry” statue. It was first dedicated in 1883 to watch over the Soldiers Home’s Civil War veterans burial plot in Mount Moriah Cemetery. The statue was stolen in the 1970s and a N.J. scrap dealer alerted police when the thieves tried to sell it. It was repaired but remained in storage for decades until a fund raising effort brought it to Laurel Hill where it was rededicated during the 2014 Decoration Day observance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Visitors follow the color guard in procession through Laurel Hill Cemetery Sunday, May 24, 2026 during the annual observance of traditional Decoration Day on the Memorial Day weekend. The Gen. George B. Meade Post No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic hosts the event, which included a wreath-laying ceremony, pageantry, music and speeches.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The holiday was observed around the country on Monday and I photographed ceremonies at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A highlight was the keynote address by U.S. Army veteran and retired Daily News writer Frank Dougherty. He was the reporter who 40 years ago wrote about each and every one of the 630 local men then known to have died in Southeast Asia during the war for a special section of the newspaper that published when the memorial opened in 1986. Their names are etched in the granite wall, along with 18 since added.

Pages from the Oct. 26, 1987 Daily News hang on a clothesline at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In that special issue former Daily News reporter Frank Dougherty documented the lives of each of the 630 local men named on the memorial.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Lucy Pierre arrives at the memorial where she gave the invocation. Pierre was the first female chaplain at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center where she served for 36 years. She was also the first Black female minister ordained in the United Methodist Church in Philadelphia and was a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol. Helping her on Fred Moore (left) of Erial, N.J. who served in in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam from 1966-67; and David Patterson (right) of West Philadelpha, who was in the U.S. Army in the 1980s.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

After the Vietnam War Veterans memorial was built in Washington D.C., Philadelphia Vietnam veterans launched a campaign to honor the more than 600 local men killed in the war. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Veterans Bill Motta of Cherry Hill and Lou Tortual (right) from Cinnaminson lcatch up and Look at photos before the ceremonies. Motta served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam 1967-68 and Tortual was there with the U.S. Army in 1968-69.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Joann Sperandio and Rich Martin of Port Richmond read copies of the 1987 Daily News Martin attended Thomas Edison High School in North Philadelphia with many of the 64 young men from who were killed in the Vietnam War - the highest casualty rate of any single high school in the county. He served in the U.S. Army after high school (but not in Vietnam). Sperandio’s uncle Carl served in WWII and then in Korea. He never came home. His name is on the wall of the Korean War Memorial across he street.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Five year-old Connor Driscoll salutes as he stands with his father James Driscoll from Bensalem. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010-17 and was there with a half dozen fellow union members of Pile Drivers, Divers, and Dock Builders Local 474.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Veterans join others standing to sing aloud the National Anthem. The ceremony included presentation of colors, presentation of wreaths and a keynote address by former Daily News reporter Frank Dougherty who documented the lives of each of the 630 Philadelphia men who were then known to have died in Southeast Asia.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Robert Fisher (left) of Germantown served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1968-71.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Former Daily News reporter Frank Dougherty (left) delivers the keynote address. At right is U.S. Marine Corps veteran Dennis Best, who led the grassroots efforts to build the permanent memorial at Penn’s Landing. While he served in Vietnam, 23 out of 31 men in Best's platoon were hit, resulting in the loss of both of his legs. After rehabilitating at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, Best earned a degree from La Salle, then began a 30-year career as a counselor for disabled veterans.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Robert J. Carter of West Philadelphia who served in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard from 1977-98.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Mike Nguyen, who served in the medical corps in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam, ARVN) from 1968-75, joins other veterans at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He later placed a wreath on the wall representing members of the Vietnamese community in Philadelphia.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Veterans join others at he Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Monday, May 25, 2026 on Memorial Day.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Briana Kelly (behind newspaper) of Ridley. Her father, Moose Kelly, served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1968-70. She brought him to the memorial every year after it was dedicated, and this was her first time without him as he passed away last year. His brother, in the U.S. Army, died in the Korean War.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

An All Airborne Color Guard marches away at the conclusion of ceremonies.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Jay Adams looks over the wall of names following the Memorial Day service at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He wears an MIA T-shirt honoring his wife’s uncle, Carlos Ashlock, who was one of nine men from Philadelphia who went Missing in Action during the Vietnam War. Ashlock was 21 when he went missing in 1967 after a days long combat. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Kelly Grugan of South Philadelphia photographs her sons Jordan, 13, and Max, 9 at the wall following Memorial Day ceremonies. The name of the boys’ great-great uncle (her husband’s great uncle) is on the wall. Joseph P. Grugan served in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years and died in Vietnam 1965 at the age of 23. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Visitors read copies of the October 26, 1987 Daily News and The Inquirer (right) hanging on clothesline as veterans and others gather at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The Daily News biographies, include a photo of Leroy Elliot and his wife and son. Elliot served in the U.S Marine Corps and died in Vietnam in 1967 at the age of 35.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Across the street from the Vietnam memorial, veterans place wreaths at the Philadelphia Korean War Memorial, also on Monday. The Korean War Memorial was dedicated in 2002 to honor 610 servicemen, from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, who died in the Korean War.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Pat Clancy of Trevose, Bucks County, joins other veterans and others gathered at the Philadelphia Korean War Memorial He served in Vietnam in the U.S. Army from 1966-68. After the Korean ceremony concluded he walked over to the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial ceremony across the street. “I can’t forget them,” he said. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Walking through Independence Mall on my way to a nearby assignment I saw a few colonials followed by a film crew. One was easily recognized as Benjamin Franklin, but I wasn’t too sure about the mustachioed, ill-fitted costumed, bad wig-wearing, possible George Washington and another guy.

I followed them as I figured it might a picture for a future a gallery I plan to aggregate closer to July 4th — my collection of historic Philly photo-anachronisms — different 1776 reenactors caught in chronological inconsistent juxtapositions.

Turns out they were from the digital media and lifestyle company Barstool Sports working on an episode for their ongoing series “Rediscovering America.”

Student visitors on a school history field trip pass a video crew in front of the Liberty Bell Center Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Appearing as George Washington is Barstool’s travel vlogger Zach Etkind, better known as The Wonton Don. With him are local historic impersonators Robert DeVitis, as Ben Franklin and William McIlhenny as colonial porter brewer Robert Hare. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

The video crew zooms in on the “wooden teeth” of George Washington as they film in Independence National Historical Park .Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Student visitors on a school history field trip engage with the character and actors.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Washington and Franklin do an impromptu "history rap” after visiting students asked if the men knew any songs from the Lin-Manuel Miranda revolutionary Broadway musical "Hamilton.” (Neither one had seen it.)Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Student visitors on a school history field trip to Independence National Historical Park accompany the actors walking in front of Independence Hall.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Not quite like the scene where hundreds of kids run behind Sylvester Stallone in Rocky II, field tripping students walk with "Colonists" front of Independence Hall during filming for Barstool Sports.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Gov. Josh Shapiro held a wind-swept news conference on the upper level at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday with executives of the four Philly professional teams to announce millions in highway funds that would be coming for the stadium district.

When the governor returned to the microphones after the others spoke he wore a baseball cap.

Gov. Josh Shapiro leaves the upper level at Citizens Bank Park Thursday, May 28, 2026, after announcing a state highway investment for Philly's stadium district.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Governor Josh Shapiro is at Citizens Bank Park Thursday, May 28, 2026, to announce a plan to “fix traffic congestion” around the South Philadelphia sports complex.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Major changes include a new westbound entrance ramp to I-76, artificial intelligence-powered traffic signals, and better signage in the complex. A second left-turn lane from Front Street to I-95 opened earlier this month.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Gov. Shapiro holds down his hair during a wind-swept news conference on the upper level at Citizens Bank Park.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Leaders of the city’s teams at the sports complex are together after Gov. Shapiro's announcement. From left are the 76ers' Tad Brown; the Eagles' Don Smolenski; the Flyers' Dan Hilferty; and the Phillies' John Middleton.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Gov. Shapiro shakes hands with Comcast Spectacor's Dan Hilferty. The 76ers' Tad Brown (left). Eagles' Don Smolenski (right) and Phillies' John Middleton (not shown) also attended the announcement.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

“For years, leaders across the Philadelphia region have talked about improving traffic in this stretch throughout South Philly, and now I’m here to announce today we are finally getting it done,” Gov. Shapiro said in the news conference, joined by Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll (right).Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Gov. Shapiro greets guests as leaves Citizens Bank Park.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Gov. Shapiro pauses to look down at the field as he leaves the ballpark.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Finally this week, here’s an update on my yellow car OY-YO quest. It happened while I was assigned to get an updated photo of the National Museum of American Jewish History for a news story on their aim to raise $100 million to reimagine exhibitions and strengthen finances. I went to my usual spot diagonally across from my favorite 2015 Deborah Kass sculpture, and waited no more than my usual 7.6 minutes (you know, for our big anniversary) for that elusive yellow vehicle.

Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color: