Councilmember Cindy Bass will remain the Democratic ward leader race in Mount Airy. But she agreed to share power with progressives.

After a week of controversy that left both sides looking worse for wear, the race to become the Democratic leader of Mount Airy’s 22nd Ward came down a tie.

Philadelphia City Councilmember Cindy Bass and her progressive challenger, Octavius Price, each received 27 votes from their fellow committeepeople in the initial rounds of voting during Wednesday night’s redo of the race for ward leader, an influential party position in one of the most voter-rich neighborhoods of the city.

A series of closed-door meetings followed, including a one-on-one meeting between Bass and Price.

Ultimately, Price agreed to allow Bass to remain as ward leader as part of a power-sharing agreement in which he will become ward chair, the No. 2 position. They also agreed to elect a joint slate of officers to fill out the ward’s executive committee.

“We both had supporters who weren’t here today, so we would have just kept tying, essentially,” said Price, a fiber optic engineer and a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. “And because I’m committed to the ward, I decided to take a position that was not necessarily a ward leader, but still gives me the time and the capacity to work with my constituents.”

Bass described the outcome as “a win.”

“We’re looking forward to working with everybody,” Bass told reporters. “We’ve got some new members who have joined the ward, and we’ve got some other folks who will be the staples of the organization who can help keep it going.”

The drama began on the evening of June 8, when Bass declared herself the victor of the ward leader race after a divided voice vote of committeepeople during a meeting at the Germantown Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Inquirer published a video of the meeting showing Bass refusing requests to hold a roll call vote that could have clarified the results, prompting the Democratic City Committee to order a redo of the race.

Both sides spent the ensuing week attempting to win over committeepeople for the rerun.

On Wednesday morning, progressive activist Nate Holt visited committeeperson James Harrison at his home and offered him money while encouraging him to vote against Bass, videos of the encounter obtained by The Inquirer show.

Price condemned Holt’s behavior and said he had “cut all ties with him” in a statement Wednesday evening before the vote.

Holt has not responded to questions about why he offered money to Harrison, but said in a statement he did not court committeepeople at the direction of any ward leader candidate.

As it happens, Harrison’s vote could have been decisive. But he did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.

Additionally, one committeeperson who did show up abstained, declining to vote for either candidate.

Another key vote: Former Councilmember Derek S. Green, a committeeperson in the ward who briefly considered running for ward leader and said he abstained during the initial vote last week, ultimately sided with Bass.

Green said the incident with Holt and Harrison swayed his vote.

“I learned about the video,” Green said, explaining his decision. “I’ve never seen that in the history of politics.”

The redo election took place Wednesday night at party headquarters. The party’s organization committee, which is made up of other ward leaders and chaired by former Councilmember Sharon Vaughn, oversaw the election.

Bass is often at odds with progressive activists in her Northwest Philaldelphia-based 8th Council District. She narrowly won reelection in 2023 and likely faces another stiff challenge in next year’s Council race.

Ward leaders and committeepeople, the frontline workers of the party, are charged with getting out the vote for party-endorsed candidates and fielding constituent services requests.

Control of the voter-rich 22nd Ward could play a big role in next year’s Council race.

The 22nd Ward was one of three elections the party ordered to be rerun Wednesday night. In both other races, the candidates who won the initial votes also prevailed in the redos.

In North Philadelphia’s 14th Ward, Valerie Williams defeated the incumbent, Arthur Green, in a 10-8 vote.

And in an open race for the Northwest Philadelphia-based 17th Ward, Tyrone Barge beat Melissa Schley, a former ward leader.

Barge said that his race did not involve significant ideological differences. Instead, committeepeople supported him because he promised “hard work” and increasing efforts to drive turnout for Democrats.

“We’re gonna do some exciting things in the ward,” Barge said in an interview. “It’s gonna be different.”

The results put an end to a dramatic party election cycle that saw longtime Democratic City Committee chair Bob Brady reelected to an 11th term with a new roster of lieutenants led by Vaughn, the party’s new first chair.

Brady said after Wednesday’s election that party leaders at one point considered deciding the race through a coin toss.

“We didn’t know what to do with it. And then the two got together and made an agreement and made life a lot easier,” Brady said. “The best thing can happen is those two factions that they had all agreed on this ... and the two are going to work together, and I told them I would come and work with them.”