Executive Summary

City Council Back to Full Capacity

Following the November special election, there was an official swearing-in ceremony recently at a Philadelphia City Council meeting for three new members: Carol Campbell, Bill Greenlee and Dan Savage.

This means that Philadelphia City Council is again operating at full capacity with a complement of 17 members. City Council was working with 14 members over the past year or so, which made it more difficult to pass votes, and to avoid log jams since there was an even number of members voting.

While the numbers have changed since last year, the parties have not: the Council is still comprised of 14 Democrats and three Republicans; representing 10 specific geographic districts and seven at-large seats. All of the changes are within the Democratic Party: Carol Campbell replaces mayoral contender Michael Nutter; Bill Greenlee replaces his former boss, the late David Cohen; and Dan Savage replaces the seat vacated by Rick Mariano.

City Council seats are co-terminus with the Mayor, so all 17 Council members will be running for re-election next year.