Pa. election 2026: These 4 Democrats hope to rep Philly’s 3rd District in Congress. Here’s what to know

Last year, U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans announced his retirement, and now the race to replace him in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District in Philadelphia is nearing the finish line: the May 19 primary.

The competition has narrowed down to four candidates: state Sen. Sharif Street, state Rep. Chris Rabb, Dr. Ala Stanford and attorney Shaun Griffith.

The 3rd Congressional District and the 2026 primary

Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District covers much of West and Northwest Philadelphia, along with parts of North, Center City and South Philadelphia.

Voters unsure of their district can check the U.S. House of Representatives search tool.

The 3rd District is one of the nation’s most reliable Democratic strongholds. The Cook Political Report ranks it +40 for Democrats in their partisan voting index, meaning that Democrats have performed 40 points above the national average in the district. Democrats make up nearly 80% of voter registrations, compared to under 8% for Republicans and 11% for independents. A slight majority of the district’s 767,000 residents are Black.

Evans, who will have served in Congress for 10 years, ran unopposed in 2024, while former Vice President Kamala Harris won 88% of the district in her bid for president.

With the district’s heavy tilt toward the Democratic Party, whoever wins the primary will almost certainly fill the seat in the new Congress that starts next January.

Sharif Street, veteran lawmaker with party support

Street was the first to announce his candidacy, making the announcement just two days after Evans announced his retirement. Street may have the most name recognition among Democrats as the son of former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street and former chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

A civil rights and housing attorney, he was first elected to the state Senate in 2016, representing parts of North Philadelphia. In Harrisburg, he built a profile as an advocate for criminal justice reform, voting rights and health care access. Street helped advance the 2019 legislation that created Pennie, the state’s health insurance marketplace for commonwealth residents enrolled in coverage under the Affordable Care Act. He has sought to officially repeal the death penalty in the state and sued the Trump administration over challenges to Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail process.

Expanding health care access is at the top of his platform. He also wants to legalize marijuana and “end the war on drugs” by reducing “punitive sentencing” and shifting investments to creating more economic opportunities. He became particularly active on gun violence after his nephew was killed in 2021.

Street has argued that his legislative record and ability to make bipartisan deals in a Republican-controlled state Senate make him the most effective choice to represent the district in Washington, D.C.

“I’ve been prime sponsor on a number of bills that have gone to the governor’s desk, including the [Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange],” he said at a forum in February.

Street’s endorsements include Democratic standard bearers such as the Philadelphia Democratic Party, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and several local Democratic wards. He is also endorsed by several local trades unions including the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, Steamfitters Local 420, Plumbers Local 690 and the PA Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.

Chris Rabb, progressive legislator pushing structural change

Rabb is seen as the more progressive candidate in the Democratic primary. He has represented parts of Northwest Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania House since 2017 and built a reputation as an outspoken advocate for racial justice, economic equity, public education and government reform.

A Philadelphia native, Rabb previously worked as an aide to Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and served on the White House Conference on Small Business during the Clinton administration. He later became a researcher and educator focusing on social entrepreneurship and wrote the book “Invisible Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity.”

During his time in Harrisburg, Rabb has introduced legislation on issues ranging from reparations and wealth inequality to environmental justice, fully funding public schools and expanding access to affordable housing.

Rabb has positioned himself as an independent-minded reformer willing to challenge party leadership and push for structural change.

“Centrism is not going to save us,” he said at a press conference in March. “We need real change, not another status quo politician who gives us more of the same. We need to elect a movement candidate.”

Rabb’s endorsements have largely come from progressive activists and grassroots organizations rather than the traditional Democratic establishment. He has the support of the Working Families Party, Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and state Rep. Nikil Saval have also individually endorsed him.

His campaign has emphasized small-dollar fundraising, movement politics and building a coalition of younger voters, reform-minded Democrats and residents looking for a more openly progressive voice in Congress. His platform includes guaranteed housing, “Medicare for All,” universal basic income, livable wages and publicly owned grocery stores.

Ala Stanford, health care leader and outsider

Stanford is a physician, entrepreneur and public health advocate best known for founding the Black Doctors Consortium during the pandemic. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University and the Temple University School of Medicine, Stanford built her career as a pediatric surgeon and health care executive. She gained national recognition in 2020 after organizing mobile testing and vaccination efforts in underserved communities across Philadelphia and beyond.

Stanford later served as a regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Biden administration, overseeing public health initiatives across the Mid-Atlantic. Her public profile has centered on health care equity, maternal health, economic opportunity and expanding access to high-quality care.

In the race for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, Stanford has presented herself as an outsider candidate whose leadership during the pandemic demonstrated an ability to deliver during a crisis.

“This is a Democratic seat, but it matters who we elect to serve us,” she said at a forum in February. “The same old politics and the same old politicians are not going to cut it. We need people who step up in a storm, who lead when others wilt away, and that’s what I’ve done and will do for this city. When our government failed us during COVID, I stepped up and delivered results for Philadelphia.”

Stanford has centered her platform on expanding affordable health care, protecting reproductive rights, supporting small businesses and investing in public education and neighborhood development. She has also emphasized improving maternal health, preventing gun violence and addressing racial disparities in health care outcomes.

Stanford’s endorsements include retiring incumbent U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan, EMILYs List and 314 Action Fund, a national group that backs doctors and candidates in scientific fields.

Shaun Griffith, low-profile outsider candidate

Griffith is a tax attorney and public-sector employee running as a Democratic outsider in the race. A Philadelphia resident since 2009, Griffith says he has lived in West and South Philadelphia and built a small tax business in Roxborough. His platform emphasizes universal health care, fair wages, civil liberties and environmental protections.

Unlike his higher-profile rivals, Griffith has limited institutional backing and far lower name recognition.

‘Medicare for All,’ Gaza and ICE: Where do the 3rd District candidates stand on key issues?

Health care

All of the candidates have expressed the intent to expand health care access, and Street and Stanford can boast major achievements doing just that. Street has put his role in the creation of Pennie at the forefront of his campaign and Stanford’s work during the pandemic brought her to national attention.

Rabb’s work on economic disparities has also touched on health care and he has sponsored health care-related bills in the legislature. Unlike Street, Rabb and Griffith’s platforms specifically include “Medicare for All”-style universal health care and Stanford has spoken in favor of such a policy, as well. Although Street has not called for “Medicare for All,” he has called access to health care “a right, not a privilege” and says he will work to expand Medicaid coverage, lower health care costs, make prescription drugs more affordable and expand access to mental health care.

Notable quotes:

• Sharif Street: “500,000 people are getting health care through [Pennie]. When I go to Congress, I will work to restore [ACA] tax credits. I understand how they work because I made them work here for us in Pennsylvania.”
• Ala Stanford: “I do support universal health care and ‘Medicare for All’. I practice it at 21st and Lehigh. If you have no insurance, if you have some insurance, if you have nothing, we see you.”
• Chris Rabb: “Whether it’s ‘Medicare for All,’ the bill, not just the vague idea of universal health care, but the actual bill introduced by Congresswoman [Pramila] Jayapal; whether it’s universal basic income or guaranteed jobs or social housing; all of those things are pushed by who? Progressives in Congress.”
• Shaun Griffith, in response to a question about seniors in the district: “We need to also be focusing on things like universal health care because when you’re old and you have a lot of prescriptions and your health care costs increase, so providing more medical care access would help every senior.”

The war in Gaza

The war in Gaza is another area where the differences among the candidates may be highly nuanced. But those nuances may appear significant enough in a district with large progressive, Muslim, Black, student and activist constituencies. The region also encompasses colleges that continue to grapple with the aftermath of campus protests against the war.

All of the major Democratic candidates have criticized Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the resulting civilian suffering, but their tone and emphasis may reflect how confrontational they would be toward U.S. policy and the Israeli government.

Rabb has generally occupied the most movement-aligned progressive lane, calling Israel’s attacks “genocide,” calling for a free Palestine and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. He’s also slammed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which contributes to pro-Israel candidates.

Street’s views appear to adhere to a more mainstream Democratic approach, emphasizing a two-state framing and defending U.S. aid to Israel. After a pro-Gaza rally in Rittenhouse in February reportedly promoted Hamas, Street took to social media to condemn it.

Stanford, meanwhile, has centered the issue in humanitarian and moral language, stressing the protection of children, medical access and ending civilian deaths.

Notable quotes:

• Chris Rabb: “If you can’t name the demon, you can’t kill it. And nobody who gives money to my campaign is going to get me to move a lot of positions on genocide because I can’t be free until the Palestinians are free. And … Israeli Jews can’t be free until we have a free Palestine.”
• Sharif Street: “I recognize that there won’t be peace for the state of Israel without peace for the Palestinian people, but there won’t be peace for the Palestinian people unless there’s peace for the state of Israel at some point.”
• Ala Stanford: “As a surgeon, I cannot look at images of wounded children and think this is acceptable. Humanity has to come first … No parent — Israeli or Palestinian — should have to bury a child because leaders failed.”

Housing

All of the major candidates agree Philadelphia needs more affordable housing and have pledged to lower living costs. Street and Rabb have sponsored legislation that tackles housing affordability.

Street has highlighted his bill that created the Whole-Home Repairs Program, a state initiative funding critical repairs for lower-income homeowners. He has also pointed to helping secure millions of dollars in funding to increase housing stock, such as at the Sharswood Ridge development.

Rabb has sponsored bills to expedite new housing construction in high-density areas and has tied housing affordability to his larger agenda of living wages, universal income and anti-poverty policy. He said he would co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s A Place to Prosper Act, which would institute national rent control and limit eviction causes, and ban source-of-income discrimination.

Stanford has connected the issue to her personal story growing up in public housing and has linked stable housing to advances in education, income and health outcomes.

Street, Rabb and Griffith debated housing policy at a forum organized by Project HOME.

Notable quotes:

• Sharif Street: “We need to pass Elizabeth Warren’s program, which would ban private equity from owning residential homes. I would vote for that. I would sponsor similar legislation in the house.”
• Ala Stanford: “I lived in public housing. I was the Section 8 kid. I know how important it is to have the infrastructure of a home, and wealth is linked to home ownership.”
• Chris Rabb: “We have the capacity to house everyone. We don’t have the political will.”
• Shaun Griffith: “The Democratic Party has really let down working-class Americans over the past 20 years … Barack Obama signed the legislation that bailed out the banks, but left the homeowners who were behind in arrears in a lurch.”

SEPTA / Transit

Transit is one of the most locally relevant issues in the race, because the district is deeply urban and heavily reliant on SEPTA service reliability. Funding shortfalls, fare costs, accessibility and aging infrastructure affect commuters, students, seniors and workers.

All major candidates support stronger transit investment, but they differ in how they frame the problem and what kind of leadership they claim to bring.

Street has been the most explicit about leveraging state and federal relationships to address deferred maintenance, whereas Rabb has more generally spoken in favor of “free high-speed public transit” as part of his “universal basic guarantees.”

Notable quotes:

• Sharif Street: “We need to make sure that the federal government does its part to deal with the deferred maintenance that SEPTA has and make sure that we can have a transit system that we can all afford to ride.”

Immigration enforcement

Street, Stanford and Rabb have all called for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to be abolished.

Notable quotes:

• Sharif Street: “The culture of ICE has been corrupted at a level where it’s not redeemable … We should not have an agency that has been corrupted with neo-Nazis.”
• Ala Stanford: “ICE should be abolished. It is sickening to me to explain to my child that they can’t protest freely, that their freedom of speech is not honored, and that they have to worry about what’s happening to their mother when I speak up.”
• Chris Rabb: “ICE agents are making our communities less safe, separating families and turning neighbors against each other, all in the name of an unchecked president who supports a genocide in Gaza in a new war in Iran.”

Public safety and gun violence

Crime, neighborhood safety, and gun violence remain among the most emotionally resonant issues in Philadelphia politics. In this race, all major Democratic candidates support violence prevention, stronger gun laws and investments in communities. The differences lie more in how their approach and what experience they bring.

Street emphasizes a legislative record on funding for anti-gun programs and working across the aisle to find common ground on the issue. Rabb has also worked to fund such programs in the legislature. Stanford frames violence through her work in medicine and trauma and called for more prohibitions on gun sales.

Notable quotes:

• Sharif Street: “I told them we could deliver Democratic votes for Sunday hunting and they could kill Bambi’s mom any day of the week they want if moms in our community didn’t have to bury their children.”
• Shaun Griffith: “We should have waiting limits. We should have background checks. There should not be loopholes for gun shows.”
• Ala Stanford: “Stricter gun laws for the bad actors that continue to sell and we know who they are. And I mean, fines and imprisonment.”