The G-Word Haunts PA Primaries

Image of Gaza courtesy of WikiMedia

By - New Jersey Roundhead

NEWARK, NJ - Pennsylvania, like many states, is expected to have a series of rather contested primaries compared to previous years. Many are putting their focus on the primary to unseat Ryan

Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s seventh district. That seat sees the former prosecutor and union

buster Ryan Crosswell go up against the president of the firefighters, and a candidate endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Josh Shapiro, and Bob Brooks. Some in Pennsylvania are focusing on Paige

Cognetti’s effort to unseat Rob Bresnahan in the field has all but withdrawn. Some are even

putting focus on an effort to launch an attack on the eternal white whale of the Pennsylvania

Democrats, the elusive Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania’s First. While these races have faced

attention that they very much deserve, under the radar, a race, while in a solidly blue seat, is still

rather important. This is the race for the open seat of Pennsylvania’s third, mainly between Ala

Stanford, Sharif Street, and Chris Rabb.

Unlike some other races that progressives have taken focus on, it does not have a clear establishment candidate, as Ala Stanford and Sharif Street have certain levels of establishment support, Stanford certainly has the more anti-Palestinian views of the two Stanford was a doctor who led the response to COVID in Pennsylvania and took efforts to bring attention to issues of neglect of African Americans in the response to Covid and to attempt to address the issue.

She has since then jumped into the race, running on her medical efforts, and that in this race she is an “outside”, having not previously been too involved in politics. Despite that it can be pointed out that she does have some establishment backing. She received the backing of the outgoing representative and more largely taken rather centrist views, particularly on the issue of Israel. When asked about the genocide in Gaza, she pushed back and compared calling the actions of Israel(which in my view is a genocide) a genocide to using the N word ,and she herself called it “the G word”. Her position may be surprising, however, when seeing that she has received funds from a PAC previously that is related to the AIPAC group the United Democracy Project, this may make her choice of language makes sense.

Sharif Street, in many ways, is the more traditional establishment pick. He is a member of

a political dynasty and has received the endorsements of a flurry of current and former elected

officials. In this, he has gained an important traditional advantage in districts such as this, the

endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus. The Black Caucus has traditionally held much

sway in primaries, from presidential to gubernatorial and congressional primaries in a seat such

as this with a near majority of Black constituents(49.9%). Despite this, in recent primaries we

have seen its weight shown to be faltering, with results such as the Illinois senate, where their

preferred candidate, Kelly Robin, did not receive the majority of the Black vote, with it instead

going to Juliana Stratton. Despite this, the apparent support from the Caucus does have

certain advantages going into this primary. Beyond this, he has received numerous local endorsements, with at least labor unions endorsing from the more traditional sheetworkers and

longshoremen to the more skilled ones, such as the nurses union. Additionally, the Philadelphia

Democratic Committee has endorsed his campaign, showing where the establishment wishes to

put its thumb on the scale.

Regardless, despite all of this support, one must wonder if these traditional levers will really be enough, as we have seen in recent primaries(NYC mayoral and NJ-11 special) that even with the local bases, they might still fail to win in the end. The last major contestant in this primary is the progressive running in this race, Chris Rabb, a Democratic Socialist from Philadelphia. Chris Rabb has been politically active from an early age in his adult life. In his time at Yale, Chris Rabb campaigned for and got an image of a shackled slave removed from a common room in Calhoun College (a college named after the infamous slaveowner). Chris Rabb worked for Clinton in 2016, running for the state house, defeating an incumbent running in a three-way field where both his opponents had establishment support.

Since entering the legislature, this progressive has shown his voice, pushing for laws to abolish

the death penalty in the state and bring restorative justice into the courts. He would additionally

establish the climate caucus within the legislature. For this and his other efforts in the legislature,

many progressives began coalescing behind him once he entered the race. He got endorsements

from civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump and representative Summer Lee and later received the

endorsements of progressive orgs such as Justice Democrats, the Sunrise Movement, the

Pennsylvania Working Families Party, and Philadelphia’s Democratic Socialists of America.

Through all, we see a candidate who many may be drawn to.

This campaign, much like many this year, has seen progressives attempt to oust the

establishment, fighting back. The campaign is very much not over, so it is unknown whether Chris

Rabb will be able to pull off an upset, or will the Philadelphia establishment be able to maintain

its hold over the district? Unlike some other establishment-backed candidates who have

triumphed this year, however, these remain somewhat divided. Between Sharif Street and Ala

Stanford, there remains a rather large chance that the vote of the more moderate and

establishment-inclined voters will end up splitting the vote, allowing Chris Rabb to be able to pull

out a victory. He has been able to achieve it before, such as when he entered the Pennsylvania

state house, but it shall still be a challenge, as running for a state legislature and running for

Congress is two different beasts. However, he will have a few things going in his favor this

primary. For one, the democratic electorate is in the mood for a more progressive message. We

have seen the primary voters begin moving more towards the anti-establishment picks, although

there is a risk for him that Ala Stanford’s message resonates with them. Still, she runs the risk

of her position on Israel coming to bite her. Calling Genocide “the G word” is unlikely to please

primary voters who are beginning to feel hesitant about the party’s position towards Israel. This

can be seen in how polling shows Democrats are strongly against Israel, and in a recent poll in Texas

Democrats Israel and its affiliated groups are a toxic brand. Still, this all may benefit Sharif Street

if the supposed “anti-establishment” energy is split between these two; it may end up benefiting

his campaign. As of now, the campaign very much remains anybody’s race, so in the coming

weeks, we will see who becomes the next representative of Pennsylvania’s third.