{"id":144322,"date":"2026-03-21T02:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/144322\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T02:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:48:21","slug":"philadelphia-progressives-rally-for-rabb-in-3rd-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/144322\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia progressives rally for Rabb in 3rd District"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

A coalition of leftist organizations and elected officials in Philadelphia has formally endorsed state Rep. Chris Rabb in his campaign for Congress, positioning him as the progressive favorite to succeed longtime U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans.\n<\/p>\n

At a press conference announcing the endorsement, speakers from groups including the Working Families Party, Democratic Socialists of America, Reclaim Philadelphia and OnePA framed Rabb\u2019s candidacy as part of a broader movement to challenge establishment politics and elevate working-class leadership.\n<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Councilmember Nicholas O\u2019Rourke, a member of the Working Families Party, opened the event by praising Rabb\u2019s legislative record and approach to \u201cthe fights that matter most.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has challenged corporate power when it has come at the expense of working families,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said. \u201cHe has advanced social justice, not as a slogan but as a responsibility.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Contrasting from Democrats<\/p>\n

Other speakers drew sharper contrasts with establishment Democrats, arguing that the moment demands a more confrontational, movement-driven form of politics.\n<\/p>\n

Deborah Rose Hinchey, of the Philly DSA, said the campaign reflects growing momentum for democratic socialist candidates.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the only way we win is when poor and working people organize to protect ourselves,\u201d she said. \u201cWe reject the Democratic establishment\u2019s attempts to divide us by race, by politics or by where we come from. We reject their excuses, and we reject the kind of politics that only work when working people are weak and divided and silenced.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Kendra Brooks, also a Working Families Party council member, called Rabb \u201cthe progressive choice for the 3rd Congressional District\u201d and highlighted his long-standing advocacy in Harrisburg.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need leaders in Washington who will put the people first,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd Chris Rabb is the person for us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Speakers repeatedly emphasized Rabb\u2019s refusal to accept funding from corporate political action committees as a defining feature of his campaign. Seth Anderson Oberman, executive director of Reclaim Philadelphia, said that independence is critical in the current political climate.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cChris Rabb is accountable to us,\u201d Oberman said. \u201cIn an era when Donald Trump and his billionaire backers are trying to snuff out whatever is left of our democracy\u2026 that independence is not just admirable, it\u2019s essential.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Nydea Graves, of One PA, echoed that urgency, calling Rabb \u201cthe only obvious choice for progressives in Philadelphia\u201d and arguing that \u201cthis is no time for business as usual.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

When Rabb took the stage, he leaned into the movement framing of his campaign.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about me. It\u2019s about we,\u201d he said. \u201cWe the people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Rabb pointed to his decadelong record in office and his alignment with progressive groups that helped elect national figures like members of \u201cthe Squad,\u201d the furthest-left faction of the Democratic caucus. He also positioned his campaign as a response to what he described as overlapping economic and political crises.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur country is in crisis,\u201d Rabb said, citing \u201crising authoritarianism, out-of-control corporate greed, rampant bigotry and dangerous wars.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He argued that working families are being squeezed while government priorities remain misaligned.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of spending $200 billion to drop bombs on Iran, we should be spending that money for universal health care \u2026 guaranteed housing and jobs \u2026 and support for public schools,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7097,19047,69,71,70,65946,65947],"class_list":["post-144322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-congress","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-progressives","tag-rep-dwight-evans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}