Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb is projected to win the Democratic primary for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, scoring a major victory for progressives who eyed the seat as their latest pick-up.
Rabb, a five-term state legislator and Democratic socialist, defeated state Sen. Sharif Street and physician Ala Stanford in a contest for one of the bluest districts in the country. He’s poised to succeed Rep. Dwight Evans, who is retiring after this term.
The race is the latest to underscore Democratic fault lines, with Rabb describing himself as “an aggressively anti-establishment Democrat” while Street embraced the support of local party leaders.
“The question is not whether this community will elect a Democrat but what kind of Democrat this community will elect,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said at a recent rally for Rabb. “You’ve got to elect Democrats like Rep. Rabb if you want our nation to change.”
Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) were among the progressive lawmakers who threw their backing behind Rabb alongside organizations like the Justice Democrats and the Pennsylvania Working Families Party.
Rabb ran on a platform of progressive priorities, including Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, and was vocal about his support for Palestinian rights, describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide. He’s also known for backing legislation that sought to impose more taxes on the wealthy and that established a police misconduct database during his time as a state lawmaker.
Rabb has represented part of the district, which is majority-Black and includes much of western Philadelphia, for roughly nine years. Given the district’s heavy Democratic lean and the lack of a Republican opponent, any candidate who wins the primary is widely expected to secure the seat in November.
Rabb previously told City & State Pennsylvania in March, “There’s more of an anti-establishment fervor than ever before. We saw that in New York City (with last year’s election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor), and we’re definitely seeing it on the ground – on the campaign trail – here.”
