Reclaim Philadelphia's 2025 Primary Election Ballot Guide
Reclaim Philadelphia’s Citywide Committee invites you to support our member endorsed candidates for Philadelphia’s Municipal Primary on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. We’ve also detailed some recommendations in races and ballot questions that were not part of our member endorsement process.
Endorsements
District Attorney
(#21) Larry Krasner
Read our analysis on the District Attorney Race.
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
(#3) Will Braveman
(#6) Larry Farnese
(#7) Brian Kisielewski
(#8) Irina Ehrlich
(#11) Sarah Jones
(#12) Kia Ghee
(#13) Taniesha Henry
Judge of the Municipal Court
(#14) Sherrie Cohen
(#15) Amanda Davidson
(#16) Cortez Patton
Read our analysis on judicial races and review judicial candidate questionnaires.
Recommendations
Many members and supporters have asked how to vote on some of the other races and ballot questions. After reviewing the positions of allied organizations and reported information in various public outlets, Reclaim Philadelphia’s Citywide Committee offers the following recommendations. As our members did not vote on these recommendations, they are not formal Reclaim Philadelphia endorsements, but we ask that you support them.
Commonwealth Court
#2 Stella Tsai
Stella Tsai is a Philadelphian serving on the Court of Common Pleas since 2016 where she was first appointed and later ran and won a ten year term. In her court, we have seen Judge Stella Tsai be fair and impartial. When Committee People across the city had their petitions challenged by the Democratic establishment, she erred to allow them to remain on the ballot because she believed we should make it easier, not harder, for people to run for local office. Currently there are no AAPI judges serving on Pennsylvania's higher courts and only 3 women of color. She is highly recommended by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is the recipient of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Sandra Day O’Connor award. While she has no challengers in this primary, Reclaim Philadelphia's Citywide Committee is invested in supporting her now to ensure she wins in November.
Ballot Questions
Vote YES on Question #1 “Should the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to create the Office of Homeless Services Ombudsperson to assist residents experiencing homelessness, help provide fair access to essential resources, improve quality of life in the shelter system, investigate client complaints, and provide oversight and recommendations to the City’s providers of homeless services?”
This ballot question was introduced by Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson after it was discovered that the Office of Homeless Services had mismanaged a large amount of money. On top of that, Philly’s unhoused community has had to jump through hurdles for support and faced retaliation if they spoke out about it. If approved, this ballot measure would create an independent watchdog to expose abuse, hold the City accountable, and fight for the dignity and rights of unhoused Philadelphians
Vote YES on Question #2 “Should the Home Rule Charter be amended to increase the minimum amount that must be appropriated for spending on Housing Trust Fund purposes in the City’s operating budget each year?”
This ballot question was introduced by Councilmember Jamie Gauthier as part of her Defying Displacement housing legislation. It will lock in guaranteed funding to the Philadelphia’s Housing Trust Fund, which creates affordable housing for Philly families. Currently there is an incentive program for developers to either include a certain number of affordable units or make a payment to the city’s Housing Trust Fund. However, Mayor Parker has been putting this money into the general fund, not the Housing Trust Fund. This ballot measure, if approved, ensures every dollar developers pay instead of building affordable housing actually goes to affordable housing. This would support building and preserving more than 450 additional affordable homes annually!
Vote YES on Question #3 “Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to provide for the creation of an independent Philadelphia Prison Community Oversight Board and Office of Prison Oversight and to further authorize City Council to determine the composition, powers and duties of the Board and Office?”
This ballot question was introduced by Councilmember Isaiah Thomas. Philadelphia’s incarcerated community faces overcrowding, deplorable and unsafe conditions, and numerous examples of violent and preventable deaths. The prisons have been sued repeatedly for 32 of the past 43 years. Additionally, we are seeing more overdose and drug withdrawal related deaths in our jails thanks to Mayor Parker and the City Council’s attacks on harm reduction and increased criminalization of drug users. To put it directly, Philadelphia’s jails are deadly for the incarcerated. This replaces the broken, invisible prison board with real community oversight — because Philly’s jails are in crisis, and the people most impacted deserve truth, transparency, and power to hold the system accountable.
Our Citywide Committee has chosen to not issue recommendations in the Superior Court and City Controller races.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT VOTING
Verify your voter Registration: Even if you are a regular voter, it’s always good to verify your registration. The deadline to register to vote or update your voter registration was Monday May 5 and has passed. You can only vote where you are currently registered to vote.
If voting by mail: The deadline to apply to vote by mail and absentee ballot was Tuesday May 13 and has passed. Once you receive your mail-in ballot, we advise you to drop it off as soon as possible ONLY at the Board of Elections in City Hall, the closest 24/7 Ballot Drop Off Box, or the closest Satellite Election Office by 8pm on Election Day, not your polling place.
Make your mail-in ballot count: 1) Mark your ballot with a black or blue pen. 2) Seal it in the secrecy envelope. 3) Seal the secrecy envelope into the return envelope. Ballots without the secrecy envelope will not be counted! 4) Sign and date the return envelope.
Get all your voting resources for the upcoming election and reclaim your vote here!
Take Action with us: 1) Sign up here to join us and knock doors to get out the vote for our endorsed and recommended candidates 2) Invest in our canvass program by making a donation here!