Kyle Sammin: Philadelphia benefits when both parties pay attention to it

For the first time in 24 years, Philadelphia will be represented by a Republican in the state senate (along with six Democrats) following the election of Joe Picozzi in the 5th Senatorial District. Combined with a single Northeast Philly state house district also being occupied by a Republican, Martina White, this means that the city is now represented in both houses of the legislature by members of both parties.

The switch of one seat from Democrat to Republican may not seem monumental. In terms of partisan control of the state senate, it doesn’t matter at all — Republicans already had a majority there. But in terms of how the interests of Philadelphians are perceived in Harrisburg, it matters a great deal.

Democrats control the Pennsylvania House, led by a Speaker whose own district straddles the Philly-Delco line. But Democrats have always paid attention to Philadelphia, at least since Republicans stopped running the city 74 years ago. For many of those years, both parties had representatives and senators from the city and inner suburbs, but the polarization of the state along rural/urban lines essentially put an end to that. 

That gave rise to a real problem of governance. Just as Democrats had every incentive to write off the rural areas of the commonwealth, Republicans were safe (electorally speaking) in ignoring the state’s major cities. The result is a lot of people talking past each other and imperfectly representing the electorate.

When we talk about “red districts” and “blue districts,” we are being pretty imprecise with our language. Because even though the state house elections feature a disturbing number of uncontested races, just a quick look at the districts contested by both parties shows even the most Democratic district contains some Republicans, the most Republican district contains some Democrats, and all of them contain plenty of independent voters whose needs are also worthy of consideration. 

Moreover, Republicans in the city are likely to have some different priorities than Republicans from the country, even though they both vote for the same people at the top of the ticket. Everybody in Philadelphia, regardless of party, is dealing with the rising cost of housing, with the still high (if somewhat improved) crime situation, and with the precarious funding of mass transit. If only Democrats are talking about these issues, it is difficult to imagine a divided legislature resolving them.

So we should have some hope for the current session of the state legislature in that Philadelphia now has a voice in both chambers from both parties. The city will benefit from this attention, but also by the possibility of different solutions being proposed by each party’s members. One-party rule has not done Philly any favors. One-party representation in Harrisburg is no better. 

Kyle Sammin is the managing editor of Broad + Liberty.

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