Philadelphia, PA Mayor: State Rep. Amen Brown on Tuesday survived an attempt to knock him off the packed May 16 Democratic primary ballot, though a judge used the hearing to blast him for failing to properly file his debt and financial interests. Idee Fox, who noted he’d run into this same problem during his re-election campaign last year, ordered Brown to submit this paperwork by Friday, saying, “This is your second bite of the apple. There won’t be a third one.”
Brown himself argued that grocer Jeff Brown, who is not related to his rival but is located immediately below him on the ballot, was behind the challenge. Jeff Brown’s team did not confirm or deny this, though the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that a lawyer working for his campaign argued against the state representative in court. However, while Amen Brown’s continued presence in the race could end up drawing some votes from the other Brown, he’s raised very little money and has yet to benefit from any of the $5 million in super PAC support that a prominent developer reportedly predicted would come his way.
So far most of the $8.3 million in TV spending has come from three entities: former City Councilmember Alan Domb, whom the Inquirer said Thursday has spent $4.8 million; Jeff Brown; and Brown’s allied super PAC. Brown earlier in March went negative for the first time with a spot showing images of Domb as well as fellow former councilors Derek Green, Helen Gym, Cherelle Parker, and Maria Quiñones Sánchez, arguing, “We’ve all seen how crime got worse while these candidates sat in City Hall.”
But Domb last week debuted a commercial focused on attacking just Brown over old ads that seemed to imply Michelle Obama was backing him. “Bless his heart,” says Domb’s narrator, “Jeff Brown thought he could fool us into believing Michelle Obama was supporting his campaign.”
Meanwhile, outside groups backing two other candidates recently began their own ads. Fighting Together for Philadelphia PAC last week began a $400,000 buy praising Gym for getting “the city to start sending mental health first responders on some 911 calls,” and pledging she’ll “put an end to the senseless violence and lawlessness that threatens our families and our future.”
Philadelphians for our Future PAC additionally went on to drop $230,000 on ads declaring, “Cherelle Parker knows that making Philly safer should be our next mayor’s top priority.” Parker, who began airing her own ads three weeks ago, also recently earned the backing of the Eastern Atlantic States Council of Carpenters, a well-funded labor group that helped termed-out incumbent Jim Kenney in his 2015 win.
Two more contenders also recently debuted their first spots. Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart’s commercial touts her support from Philly’s last two mayors, John Street and Michael Nutter, who allude to their famous clashes by telling the audience that one thing they “agree vociferously” on is whom to vote for. Green, finally, is deploying at least $63,000 on his own buy: One ad has him explaining that he fears his autistic son could get harmed even by well-meaning police due to a miscommunication, while the other calls for “real consequences for using illegal guns.”
All of this comes at a time when there’s little polling data to indicate who has the edge in a primary where it takes just a plurality to win. The only recent numbers that have surfaced came from a mid-March FM3 survey for Jeff Brown’s allies at For a Better Philadelphia that gave him the lead with 24%: Gym and Domb took 15% each to Rhynhart’s 12%, with Parker and Quinones-Sanchez at 7% apiece and no one else breaking 2%. A January internal we hadn’t previously seen had Brown edging out Gym 20-15.