Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s path to re-election got a lot easier this week when Jabari K. Jones, widely seen as a viable competitor to her 3rd District seat, dropped out of the race.

Jones, the 28-year-old head of the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, positioned himself to the right of Gauthier on issues like development and crime, but withdrew from the race on Monday ahead of a hearing on legal challenges to his nominating petitions. He was one of about a two dozen candidates for City Council who faced challenges to their paperwork this week. The challenges are a longstanding tradition in Philly politics.

Lodged by three 3rd District voters and committeepeople, the legal challenges alleged that many of the people who signed Jones’ nominating petitions did not live in the District or were not registered Democrats. City Council candidates are required to submit 750 signatures to be nominated.

The 3rd District race was setting up to be one of the more competitive races in this year’s municipal primaries. There is no Republican challenger to Gauthier’s seat. All 17 City Council seats will be on May 16 primary ballots.