Philly’s progressive left is plotting a City Council takeover in 2027

For more than a decade, members of Philadelphia’s progressive left have slowly grown their influence in City Hall by individually picking off establishment-aligned Democrats.

But months ahead of the May municipal primary election — when ballots will list every Council seat, the city row offices, and the mayor — Philadelphia’s left-leaning organizations are no longer going after a seat here or there. This time, they’re going all-out in an attempt to win a progressive majority on City Council and fundamentally change who holds the power in local government.

Seth Anderson-Oberman — a leader in the city’s progressive circles who is expected to soon launch a campaign to represent Council’s North Philadelphia-based 8th District — said the groups that powered democratic socialist Chris Rabb’s win in the spring congressional primary are already organizing behind Council candidates.

This week, the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America announced endorsements of three Council candidates, planting an early flag more than six months before the election.

Winning those seats could be part of the path toward progressives winning a majority on Council for the first time.

“We are ready to win governing power in 2027,” said Anderson-Oberman, the former executive director of the progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia. “We’re in a better position to do this than we’ve ever been, and I think the mood of the electorate is ready for change.”

It’s an outcome that could reshape Philadelphia politics and put centrist Democrat Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, if she wins reelection, increasingly at odds with Council.

It would also require a series of electoral victories to break their way. All of Council’s 17 members have said they are running for reelection next year. Currently, four sitting members — Kendra Brooks, Nicolas O’Rourke, Rue Landau, and Jamie Gauthier — reliably vote as a progressive bloc. To win a majority, progressives would have to retain those seats and take five more.

The left-leaning slate for Council is shaping up to include at least five challengers, according to sources who lead the organizations:

Progressives are hopeful that their slate will also include a mayoral candidate, but that remains an open question.

The Inquirer has reported that Brooks, who made history as the first member of the Working Families Party to win a seat on Council and represents the city at-large, is considering a run for mayor against Parker. Brooks has not spoken publicly about the prospect.

» READ MORE: Philly City Councilmember Kendra Brooks is considering running for mayor, sources say

The city’s leftist faction is made up of more than a half-dozen organizations and unions with progressive leadership, each with their own endorsement processes and priorities. It also includes some Democratic wards that are led by leftists who have coordinated progressive takeovers of parts of the traditional party apparatus.

But the Democratic City Committee is still controlled by the establishment, and ward leaders close to the party’s leadership tend to back Council’s incumbents. In addition, Philly developers are already planning a $1.5 million campaign to protect several Council incumbents from leftist challengers whom they see as unfriendly to business.

Progressives’ strategy is to organize early. That coalescence gives candidates more time to tap into the groups’ robust canvassing and fundraising operations.

In past elections, One PA, a racial and economic justice advocacy group that often organizes around issues related to tenants’ rights, has waited until January or later to make endorsements.

But One PA executive director Steve Paul said the group will likely run its endorsement process earlier this cycle to begin campaigning for its left-leaning candidates sooner.

“At the chapter meetings, members are saying ‘we want to start to get engaged in the municipal elections,’” Paul said. “Because of that energy, we see an opportunity.”

DSA’s local chapter announced this week that it has already endorsed Gross, Moss, and Patel. The organization will likely consider making additional endorsements later this year.

“The the best path to winning in May is starting to talk to voters as early as possible about candidates and the vision,” said Deborah Rose, the co-chair of the Philadelphia chapter.

Rose said that DSA members knocked on more than 70,000 doors to support Rabb’s run for Congress, and Council candidates who have the organization’s backing can expect a similarly robust ground campaign.

“We have almost 3,000 dues-paying members,” Rose said, “and that operation can be turned around very fast and put toward winning.”

» READ MORE: Chris Rabb’s path to victory in the U.S. House race ran through Northwest Philly and the progressive left

The candidates plan to center their campaigns on issues like housing, affordability, and a relentless focus on the working class that have proved successful in lifting other democratic socialists into high office. Anderson-Oberman said Philadelphia’s progressives are looking at Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for mayor of New York City as a potential blueprint to victory.

“Right now, we’re in an incredibly vulnerable time for people,” Patel said. “We have increasing costs, increasing utility costs — we need to do that work now. So regardless of what else is going on in the world, now is the time to focus on making sure that we have the programs, the services, the protections for working Philadelphians.”

Moss, who works in higher education, said that current makeup of City Council is not doing enough to uplift poor and working class Philadelphians, and that he sees voters as hungry for change.

“The electorate wants more than they’ve been getting,” Moss said. “I’m 30. All my life it’s been same old, same old, ‘vote for us and we promise we’ll do these things,’ but that’s never happened. That has never happened for as long as I’ve been alive.”