Billionaire Jeffrey Yass gets involved in tight Philly City Council race between progressives and the GOP

Main Line billionaire Jeffrey Yass is again financing negative political advertising in Philadelphia, this time to try to sink two progressives running against a pair of Republicans for seats on City Council.

Yass, principal at Susquehanna International Group and a conservative mega-donor, contributed $300,000 to an independent expenditure group called the Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth, according to campaign finance paperwork filed late last week.

The Coalition has already spent $150,000 on television ads that tie Councilmember Kendra Brooks and pastor Nicolas O’Rourke, of the Working Families Party, to supervised injection sites and the movement to “defund the police.” The Working Families Party has called the ads “weak and desperate attempts to smear Kendra and Nicolas.”

The donation to the super PAC is relatively small for Yass, who is Pennsylvania’s richest man and has contributed tens of millions of dollars to political causes. He spent more than $1 million on the group in the spring, when the PAC ran negative advertising about Helen Gym, a progressive former Council member who unsuccessfully ran for mayor.

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But his cash infusion could be enough to make a difference in the race with just a week until Election Day. His donation is more money than the campaigns have each spent on television advertising thus far, according to the media tracking firm Ad Impact. And it shows how competitive the Council race has become in its final days.

The race between the Working Families Party and Republicans Jim Hasher and Drew Murray is among the most hotly contested this campaign season. All four are running for two Council seats that represent the city at-large and are effectively reserved for non-Democrats.

Brooks and O’Rourke have fundraised off of Yass’ involvement, telling supporters in an email that his donation “can be really damaging this late in the campaign.”

O’Rourke said in a statement that “Republicans know their corporate tax cut and anti-abortion positions are toxic” and are relying on Yass to “bail them out with fear-mongering ads.”

“It’s a tired play,” he said, “and we believe voters will reject it by coming out strong for our working families agenda next Tuesday.”

Mo Rushdy, a real estate developer who is the leading the Coalition’s efforts, said Yass’ advocacy for charter school expansion represents “common sense reforms for the deep-seated problems of our public schools” and “aligns perfectly with the bipartisan coalition we have put together.”

“We are committed to building a moderate City Council of solution-based politicians who are serious about getting people out of poverty and tackling neighborhood issues in a pragmatic way,” Rushdy said.

» READ MORE: Progressive third-party candidates outraised Republicans in Philly City Council race

Filings show the Coalition also drew $25,000 contributions from AIMCO, a real estate investment firm, and from a PAC called New Foundations, which is funded by the Laborers District Council. The Laborers are led by Ryan Boyer, head of the politically powerful Philadelphia Building Trades & Construction Council, which has endorsed Hasher. Boyer is also a top backer of Democratic mayoral nominee Cherelle Parker.

The super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money so long as it does not coordinate with the campaigns or candidates, is not encouraging voters to cast ballots for Republicans.

But the negative messaging against the Working Families Party effectively helps the GOP and is surely a welcome development for the two Republicans, who have raised a respectable sum of money for their campaigns but have still lagged far behind the Working Families Party.

As of late last week, Hasher and Murray had spent much of the cash they’d raised and had just $72,000 and $40,000 in their campaign accounts, respectively. Meanwhile, O’Rourke had $177,000 on-hand and Brooks had $340,000 in her campaign account.

Several other outside groups are likely to be involved in swaying the race in the final week.

The Working Families Party’s national organization is financing a robust door-knocking and literature operation. And the building trades is expected to fund its own turnout operation to support Hasher, as well as four Democrats running for at-large seats who the trades also endorsed.