Journey to Election Day

Political lawn signs litter the November grass all across the Eastern Pennsylvania area. The seats up for election include District Judges, School Board Members, Tax Collectors, and most important, Supreme Court Judge. Leading up to these important Municipal elections the streets, billboards and even television commercial time slots are filled with advertisements for different politicians. Political volunteers make phone calls all over the county just to inform people about the election and hoping to increase annual percents of voters. According to the Pew Research Center, almost 80% of adults in Philadelphia lean democrat or liberal. This begs to ask the question, what does a Republican in the Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania Area look like? How can the Republican party in Philadelphia even stay a float when the vast majority of people vote democrat? What looks the same between these two party voters? What looks different?

The most important election, state-wide, was the election for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice. The two candidates include Judge Kevin Brobson, a Republican, and Judge Maria McLaughlin, a Democrat. This campaign specifically was controversial because Judge Brobson decided to attack Judge McLaughlin in an ad that aired in October 2021. This ad went directly against the vow all judges take to never go negative or attack in a campaign ad. This vow is taken by all judges in the beginning of their careers. One of the points in the attack video is that Judge McLaughlin was ‘funded by a donor who was indicted by the FBI’ and how she ‘supported a drunk driver who killed a pregnant woman’. Judge Brobson and his team quickly ammended the commercial and took out the attacks against his opponent. Normally state judge races never get too heated- however this one did. Why? The two sides, in the aftermath of the BLM protests, Covid-19 conspiracy and January 6th riots, seem to be more mad in this election. This is personal for both parties.

I followed both Democratic and Republican candidates on both of their journey’s to election day. First I visited the Democratic

Headquarters in Northern Liberties. I met with several different chairpersons, committee members, and politicians who were all apart of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia. Every Wednesday democrats involved with the party meet at the Headquarters and have lunch and chat about any recent news or announcements among the party. This week the normally lax chatter was aggressive and defensive in the wake of the advertisement made by Judge Brobson’s team.

These weekly meet ups have pizza delivered and cookies served at a long table in the back of a conference room. People are chatting, laughing and sharing business cards with one another. When I first walked in I immediately assumed that it was someone’s birthday. “We do this every week!” shared John Brady. He is the head of the Democratic Headquarters and organizes them every week. Most of the people in the office have political buttons wildly clipped onto their shirts. Judge Maria McLaughlin was in attendance to this particular lunch since it was the last Wednesday before the election. She spent her time chatting with members of the party and community. She wore bright pink lipstick and pointed to me as she entered the room, “Make sure I look good!” she said in reference to the camera in my hands. The Judge spoke with me about the election and her feelings about the race. “There is a war against women” she told me. “This has never happened before in political history” she says in reference to the negative attack ad that was streamed across the state. “Judges are not allowed to negatively attack. I took an oath when I got the job, and so did Mr. Brobson. It has never been done before. It’s illegal.” she adds. Her campaign manager nervously sits in the corner of Judge McLaughlin’s office, checking her cell-phone constantly. She had just gotten off the phone with the Associated Press after talking with them about the negative ad.

This seemed to have shaken up the entire campaign. Judge McLaughlin shared some emails she has been receiving over the entire campaign. One specific email only contained the words, “Fuck you Bitch”. And the surprising part was that her inbox was filled with these types of messages. Some emails includedirect threats to the Judge along with explicit language.

Judge Kevin Brobson is a very private person. Trying to get ahold of him and his team proved to be an impossible task. After various calls to the PA GOP, the Republican Headquarters, his own Chambers, and to the PA Supreme Court, I was given Judge Brobson’s campaign manager, Tim Craine’s, cell phone number. I left several voicemails to Craine and finally decided to visit the Philadelphia Republican Headquarters. I figured they had some organized lunch, like the Democratic Headquarters did. After following my GPS to the public address of the headquarters, I finally found it.

The Philadelphia Republican Headquarters resides in the basement of a bar on Frankfort Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia. The office was deserted and seemed to have been in that state for a while. The tapped off parking lot spoke for itself. After meeting another dead end I decided to observe the party on voting day and their campaign booths in voting stations of Eastern Pennsylvania area, a typically more republican area.

All tables the represent Judge Brobson at official voting stations include two things: one being an American Flag and second being a Blue Lives Matter sign. One of the workers excitedly spoke to me about the campaign, “I served as an officer under President Obama. He was a good man. But he is one of the few on that side. That is why we need to vote for people like Judge Brobson.” On the Judges social media I was able to locate where he has been on the days leading up to the election. He was only in all red or Republican leaning counties. Judge Brobson must be aware that he has no pull in Philadelphia since it is primarily a blue area. He made the decision to secure his already red-voters. He was seen in Bucks and Montgomery County days before the election, both have elected President Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. He was seen speaking to War Veterans and at Police Stations, two communities that historically vote republican. When I spoke with the worker of the Republican tent at the voting station, I probed him about the Maria McLaughlin Ad. He was

unaware of the ad and claimed that, “Usually these things aretriggered by a comment on the other side”.

Historically, Philadelphia has been a liberal county due to several different traits of its population including race, income and diversity. Republican politicians like Judge Kevin Brobson avoid these areas for many reason, the main one being that there is no way he would be able to sway the deep Democratic roots. So when exploring the GOP in

Philadelphia, you will find yourself meeting lots of dead ends, and feeling very isolated.