Why the primary matters more than the general election in Philly

With Democrats making up the majority registered voters in Philadelphia, most winners are chosen during the primaries. Now a new faction of the party is rising.

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Members of Reclaim Philadelphia march through Center City prior to the Democratic National Convention in 2016 to demand that the DNC reveal its sources of funding.

Members of Reclaim Philadelphia march through Center City prior to the Democratic National Convention in 2016 to demand that the DNC reveal its sources of funding. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

With an overwhelming majority of Philadelphia voters registered as Democrats, the Democratic primary has been the race that determines most of the winners of the city’s general election for decades. But it wasn’t always that way. On this episode of The Why, WHYY senior reporter Dave Davies explains how Democrats rose to power in the first place and why the results of tomorrow’s races could signal the rise of a new progressive faction within the party.

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