Meet Brian O’Neill, the Republican Council member who has represented Northeast Philly since 1980

Brian O’Neill, the only Republican member of Philadelphia City Council, has represented Northeast Philadelphia for 44 years, and he’s vying to add another term to his resume.

But this year he’s facing a potential roadblock: a reelection challenge from Democratic union leader Gary Masino.

O’Neill, a 73-year-old retired lawyer, has served on Council since 1980. If he wins reelection, he’ll have a staggering 31 years more experience than his next most tenured colleague.

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The result of his reelection race could have big implications for Philadelphia’s Republican Party. If he comes up short in the 10th District and the GOP’s candidates for Council’s at-large seats also lose, there will be no Republicans in the 17-member body.

For almost all of O’Neill’s 44 years on Council, he has been the only Republican in a district Council seat, as Democrats hold a significant voter-registration advantage in Philadelphia.

Here’s what you need to know about O’Neill ahead of the Nov. 7 election:

O’Neill said he is seeking a 12th term “because I am effective at doing this job, and I love doing it.”

“I’ve never voted for a real estate tax increase, I’ve won thousands of zoning cases to keep the Far Northeast family-friendly, and I’ve delivered the best constituent services possible, helping real people with real problems,” he said.

A moderate Republican in a mostly Democratic district, O’Neill generally steers away from partisan politics. But he said that part of the reason he is running again is to push back on the policies of progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner, who is persona non grata in the police-friendly Northeast.

“I’m standing up to Larry Krasner and his soft-on-crime policies. I want to fight to put more cops on the street,” he said.

O’Neill said that he remains motivated for the job despite his decades in City Hall and has the energy to keep serving.

“Your gut tells you when time is up, and I decided when I turned 60 that I had to eat healthier, sleep better, cut down on things, and be in much much better shape,” he said. “When the people I represent think I’ve been around here too long, they’ll say so.”

O’Neill is tall and slender, and he often sports a button-down shirt and a blue blazer. He can be genial and has the politician’s knack for remembering anecdotes and family members of people he’s chatting with.

But O’Neill says his people skills didn’t come naturally.

“I’m actually a lot less shy than I was when I first took office,” he said. “I’m the last person in the world you would think would enjoy knocking on people’s doors, and I’ve probably knocked on 50,000 or 100,000 of them over the years. I love it, but does it come naturally to me? No.”

Taxes: O’Neill said that while he supports lowering many city taxes, his top priority is keeping property taxes down.

He wants Council to increase the homestead exemption, which lowers the taxable value of owner-occupied homes. Council in 2022 made an unprecedented increase in the exemption, from $45,000 to $80,000. But O’Neill would like to see Council raise it to the legal maximum under state law, which would be another $15,000 to $20,000.

Philadelphia has unusually low real estate taxes because it relies more heavily on its wage tax than any other large U.S. city. But O’Neill supports lowering the property tax rate even further.

“So many of our residents are homeowners and senior citizens, fixed-income people,” he said, adding that rising property assessments threaten to “cripple people that couldn’t afford them.”

He has also voted repeatedly to cut the city’s wage and business tax rates by small amounts. But he said he doesn’t support reducing them so quickly that it would require the city to squeeze more money out of the property tax.

Public safety: O’Neill has been repeatedly endorsed by the city’s police union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, a major player in the Northeast.

O’Neill said he fought behind the scenes to increase spending in the current budget for recruiting more police officers, an objective shared by many lawmakers over the last year.

76ers arena: O’Neill is perhaps the strongest advocate for “councilmanic prerogative,” the unwritten rule under which lawmakers defer to the preferences of the District Council member when it comes to land use decisions, such as zoning, parking regulations, or sales of city-owned parcels.

By O’Neill’s telling, he helped make the practice commonplace in Council before it even had a name.

So when it comes to the 76ers’ proposal to build a new arena in Center City, he’s taking his cues from Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose 1st District includes the property.

“I think Council people should represent their districts, and if the people of that district do not want it there, then that’s how I will vote,” he said. “I’m not afraid to vote for it or against it. I don’t have an opinion.”