Jamie Gauthier
Political newcomer Jamie Gauthier pulled off the biggest upset in Tuesday’s primary election, handily defeating longtime incumbent Jannie Blackwell in the City Council 3rd District race. The win appears to end the 45-year reign of the Blackwell family in the district, which has undergone massive demographic changes in recent years.
Gauthier garnered about 56 percent of the approximately 25,000 votes cast and with no Republican candidate in Tuesday’s primary, the win almost assures her victory in the November general election.
Excitement began to build early in the evening at Gauthier’s election night party at Booker’s on Baltimore Avenue.
Gauthier: “I feel so excited and thrilled, this is a victory for the people of the 3rd district. They overwhelmingly voted for change.” #phillyvotes (this vid is of Jamie’s son telling her “Mom, it’s a done deal”) pic.twitter.com/0uyFVjZJBa
— Juliana Reyes (@juliana_f_reyes) May 22, 2019
From Gauthier’s victory speech. She seemed very, very suprised by her margin pic.twitter.com/D7ZTKIoOgb
— Jake Blumgart (@jblumgart) May 22, 2019
Meanwhile, Blackwell slipped out of her party without making a statement or talking to reporters.
“I’m going home,” Blackwell said.
A West Philly political dynasty falls, and a roundup of City Council district races elsewhere, with help from @JuliaTerruso @CraigRMcCoy, and @MichaelleBond and @JuliaTerruso out in the field https://t.co/tsqvwDcppZ
— William Bender (@wbender99) May 22, 2019
The five At-Large City Council seats in the Democratic primary went to incumbents and others endorsed by the Party, thwarting insurgent efforts from grassroots challengers supported by organizations like Reclaim Philadelphia and the 215 People’s Alliance. Incumbents Helen Gym, Allan Domb and Derek Green will join Isaiah Thomas and Katherine Gilmore Richardson on the November ballot. Republican candidates will include incumbents Al Taubenberger and David Oh, along with Dan Tinney, Matt Wolfe and Bill Heeney.
Retired police officer Rochelle Bilal defeated incumbent Jewell Williams, who has been beset by sexual harassment allegations, for sheriff. She will likely become the first woman elected sheriff in the city.
May 22nd, 2019 at 10:37 am
Personally, I think it’s a bit strange to say the Democratic Party “thwarted” efforts by Reclaim and 215 People’s Alliance when 40% of the At-Large City Council seats went to Reclaim and 215 People’s Alliance endorsed candidates! (Plus a ton of progressive folks coming out on top throughout the ballot…) To me, that language seems unnecessarily combative, and not really supported by the facts. How great is it that the establishment and leftist grassroots groups agreed on 40% of their endorsements?! And that the candidates who had both establishment and leftist / grassroots support came out on top (1st and 3rd highest vote getters)!
May 22nd, 2019 at 1:56 pm
Buh-bye Jannie. You will not be missed.
May 23rd, 2019 at 12:17 am
About time, need some new ideas and changes to west Philly
Enough of the old school do nothing people.
West Philly is ready for a northern liberties change
We just need leadership and new ideas
May 23rd, 2019 at 11:24 pm
Jamie seems like a person of real integrity with lots of great ideas, who knows the area well (grew up here). I am really excited to have her representing us.
May 24th, 2019 at 12:39 am
Racism and class rule prevail, largely thanks to millenial cluelessness in the guise of “woke-ness.” Get ready to roll over folks — vulturistic NYC developers are coming en masse to drive your rents up beyond recognition as you flee ever westward.
PS Northern Liberties sucks.
May 24th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
J c- Northern Liberties change?!?!?! God, please tell me that is not the vision. What makes our community strong is it is a neighborhood of people who live there- not rich young professionals who are putting in a few years in the city before moving to the burbs. lets stop the 100000 condos and apartments and focus on the families.
May 24th, 2019 at 10:20 pm
Nick Lai I totally agree 💯👍🏽
May 26th, 2019 at 7:23 pm
Glad to see Jannie go. Not sure that Jamie will make much of a difference in the pay-to-play Democratic cesspool. Ending councilmanic privilege would be a good start. Term limits as well. Stay off the climate change bandwagon. Now can we clear the signs off the lawns and poles?
May 30th, 2019 at 11:24 am
Okay, the outsiders have come and stolen from us. Make no mistake you WILL NOT WILL RE-ELECTION. Trust me you don’t know west Philly at all. Good luck trying to get ANYTHING done, you have no friends in council. you’re about to find out the hard how we do things in Philadelphia
May 30th, 2019 at 12:04 pm
The signs tell the whole story: 1) she called herself anti gentrification and her signs were predominantly gentrified part of west philly 2) she calls herself an environmentalist and her signs remain all over the place- a giant littering effort! 3) She says she is for the people of west philly, yet she hung the signs so high (and in front of people’s homes) that only people with a ladder can take them down.
May 31st, 2019 at 8:00 am
Just remember that Jannie didn’t just lose, she got stomped.
June 2nd, 2019 at 9:10 pm
So Jamie won big in areas with higher home values, higher educational levels, and cleaner streets. Jannie was known for her support of the homeless and impoverished. That formula worked since 1975 and kept people dependent on government and on the Blackwells. Vive la gentrification!