Congressman Dwight Evans has a primary challenger: Former Philly Register of Wills Tracey Gordon

Former Philadelphia Register of Wills Tracey Gordon, who lost reelection to her city post last year after several controversies shook her administration, filed paperwork this week to challenge Rep. Dwight Evans in the April Democratic primary.

Evans, 69, is seeking his fifth term in Congress after beating Chaka Fattah in an upset in the 2016 Democratic primary. He’s since easily held onto the majority Black, heavily Democratic 3rd District seat.

“There are some great challenges we still face, “ Evans said in an interview. “I feel strongly about fulfilling that commitment to address those challenges.”

Gordon, who defeated 10-term incumbent Ron Donatucci to become register of wills in 2019, was narrowly defeated in her bid for a second term in May’s four-candidate primary. The winner, John Sabatina Sr., an estate attorney and Northeast Philly ward leader, took office in January.

Four lawsuits against Gordon are currently pending in federal court alleging Gordon inappropriately fired employees who did not back her reelection campaign.

Gordon did not return calls seeking comment on her congressional bid or the litigation.

It’s unclear how serious a challenge she’ll mount. She has no easily discoverable campaign website and has yet to report raising any money, with two and a half months left until the primary.

Evans, who has the benefit of incumbency, reported raising $551,000 last year and having an ending campaign cash balance of $283,000.

Evans represented Philadelphia in Harrisburg before going to Congress, where he is a member of the Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus. He sits on the Ways and Means and Small Business Committees. He is a longtime ally of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who along with Evans, got her political start via the organizing group the Northwest Coalition. He’s also been a key ally for President Joe Biden in Philadelphia.

The hallmark of Gordon’s register of wills tenure was her attention to tangled titles, or messy property battles that happen when someone dies without a will.

Gordon also faced controversies. She hired and then let go a beleaguered political consultant, and caught heat for allowing her daughter to sell Eagles merchandise before the 2023 Super Bowl. Most recently, four former staffers accused Gordon of firing them because they refused to contribute to her campaign.

Malik Boyd, the most recent former staffer to file a suit against Gordon, alleged in filings that she “insisted that employees of the office support her reelection candidacy publicly, vote for her candidacy, contribute monetarily to her reelection campaign, and not remain noncommittal or uninvolved in the reelection process.”

With petitions in, the stage is also set for other Pennsylvania incumbents facing primary challenges in April.

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks) faces antiabortion advocate Mark Houck.

In Western Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D., Allegheny) has two Democratic challengers, Laurie MacDonald, president of Pittsburgh-based nonprofit Center for Victims, and Bhavini Patel, a member of Edgewood’s borough council who formerly worked for Allegheny County.

There are Republican primary battles for the nominations to take on Democratic Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, who represents Delaware County and parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia, and Susan Wild, whose Lehigh Valley district includes Lehigh, Carbon, and Northampton Counties, as well as part of Monroe County.

And in Republican Rep. Scott Perry’s Central Pennsylvania district, six Democrats hoping to challenge him filed petitions to run in the primary.