While Congress has been out of session this past week, Democratic House Reps. Bob Brady [3] (Pa.) and Chaka Fattah [4] (Pa.) have been busy campaigning in the hopes of becoming Philadelphia’s next mayor. The primary will take place on May 15 and — given the city’s heavily Democratic lean (no Republican has been elected mayor since 1948) — is expected to effectively determine the outcome of the general election. A win by either Brady or Fattah in November would trigger a special House election to fill the remainder of the departee’s term. According to Pennsylvania law, the governor (in this case, former Philly mayor and DNC [5] chair Edward Rendell) would have to set a new House election within about two months of the mayoral general election.

A new poll released this week showed that both Brady (16%) and Fattah (17%) currently trail businessman Tom Knox (24%), while former City Councilman Michael Nutter (12%) and Pennsylvania State Rep. Dwight Evans (10%) follow. It should be noted, however, that 21% of respondents remain undecided. Brady, whose standing in the polls has gradually improved, recently dodged a hurdle [6] when a judge ruled that he could remain on the mayoral ballot despite failing to list his city pension on the financial-interests statement he filed with his nominating petitions. Knox, who has argued that Brady should be disqualified, has appealed the ruling to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. Meanwhile, Fattah, whose poll numbers have fallen, has been widely criticized [7] for refusing to release his income tax returns; a decision he claims was motivated by the fact that his wife (with whom he files jointly) is a high-profile local news anchorwoman (Renee Chenault-Fattah) and wishes to not release her salary.

One of the central issues of the race thus far is Philadelphia's recently implemented campaign contribution limits. Both Brady and Fattah have argued in favor of suspending them [8], contending they are unfair in that they curb candidates' ability to fundraise from others, but not spend their own money. As a result, Knox (a multi-millionaire who has pledged to spend up to $15 million on the race) has been able to greatly outspend both Brady and Fattah.

The demands of the campaign have caused both Brady and Fattah to miss a substantial number of floor votes in the House. Brady has missed 28 votes (13.2%) in 2007, while Fattah has missed 24 (11.3%). Even before the race began, however, Fattah was known for his poor voting record in Congress. Since 1997, he has missed 9.2% of all House votes cast, while the chamber average has been less than half that figure (4.2%).

We at Congresspedia [9] have been closely following the race on both Brady [10] and Fattah [11]’s profile pages, and will continue to do so until the election. We urge you to both check them out and improve them with your own edits!