Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, as Philadelphians pick their next district attorney, select judges and decide on several ballot questions.
The DA election, the most high-profile race on the ticket, features heavily-favored incumbent Democrat Larry Krasner and Republican attorney Charles Peruto Jr.
Krasner’s biggest hurdle was likely in the May primary, where he defeated long-time prosecutor Carlos Vega. The race, in which Krasner took 65% of the vote, was widely seen as a referendum on the incumbent’s progressive agenda.
Peruto, always engaged in an uphill battle in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, has appealed to voters by repeatedly pointing to Philadelphia’s rising homicide and shooting numbers.
In the other city-wide non-judicial election, City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, a Democrat, is running unopposed.
Residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on four ballot questions, including one that would require tens of millions of dollars to be diverted to affordable housing programs every year.
Question four, if approved, would require City Council and the mayor to divert at least 0.5% of the city’s annual budget to the Housing Trust Fund. If the mandate had been in place during the most recent budget cycle, $25 million would have been automatically spent on housing initiatives.
