THE PA SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST THE APPEAL OF ANGEL CRUZ vs. ANTHONY P. JOHNSON'S PETITION.

[anthjohn]

THE PA SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST THE APPEAL OF ANGEL CRUZ vs. ANTHONY P. JOHNSON'S PETITION.


JOHNSON REMAINS ON THE BALLOT!



Have a Great Weekend.

[thegreattwizz]

Do I understand this right? The incumbent sued to have his challenger removed from the ballot? That afraid of a fight? Wow. Given the credentials of the challenger, this incumbent must really be holding on by the skin of his teeth.

[ArcticSplash]

Ugh, you don't get PA politics do you. You get signature challenges left and right as NORMALCY, not extraordinarily.

Funny though that Cruz went after him.

[ArcticSplash]

Now that Angel Cruz can't get rid of him, let's talk a bit about antjohn's district... The PA House 180:

Source: Angel Cruz's PA House homepage


This is an area where identity politics matters. Identity politics == race/ethnicity/sex is the primary determinant of how constituents are going to vote.

Angel's district covers Juniata, the rapid up-building of low income housing targeted squarely for poor Puerto Ricans and Dominicans down in the bottom part of the district where Norris Square Civic sits, and the mixed-race, heavily Puerto Rican areas towards Harrowgate.


Demographically, the low-income Puerto Rican and Dominican populations in this area are rapidly growing and this is a deposit point for new Puerto Ricans deciding to land here.

The black population in the westmost parts of the district, i.e. Templetown up through Hunting Park, there's too many vacant houses here and residents have been draining out of these areas.

Both groups have tended to vote for the candidate that they think looks like them. If antjohn even gets this to a close tie I will be surprised. The deck is not stacked in his favor and I doubt you can win over either population with promises. The low income black population realizes that the area is now heavily dominated by Latino groups. There is also friction stemming from that which is unvoiced and yet undeniable. Cruz has heavy support from businesses around the EL corridor of Kensington Avenue.

The Templetown growth is not enough to influence the voter turnout that will go on in the easternmost areas of Kensington and those votes will lean heavily to Cruz without a doubt.



So congrats to antjohn for sticking through a dick-less petition appeal. That's the first hurdle to cross on the way to April.

[Bob_Head]

Ugh, you don't get PA politics do you. You get signature challenges left and right as NORMALCY, not extraordinarily.

True. Brady went after Pia Varma last time around, even though she didn't stand a chance of getting more than a handful of votes. In total, last cycle there were something like 300 petition signature challenge cases in Philadelphia alone.

Funny though that Cruz went after him.

Not really. Two years ago the difference between Cruz and Ramos wasn't much over a hundred votes. If Cruz feels Anthony will siphon off even a handful of black voters who would otherwise go for him, it makes perfect sense. And I get the feeling that between Cruz and Ramos, black voters are going to prefer Cruz.