Spring Break
Seth Williams takes district attorney primary
Cameron Birch
Issue date: 5/22/09 Section: News
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Republican candidate Michael Untermeyer challenges Williams; the election will take place in November.
"[Williams] had the most experience and most new and innovative ideas to bring to the office. … Seth had impressed us the most," Giancarlo Stefanoni, president of the Drexel Democrats, said.
Additionally, Stefanoni added that judicial elections are structured differently, however, the Williams' endorsement kept up with what the organization has done in the past years. The Drexel Dems have been more involved in city projects, which include community outreach after the November presidential election.
Williams faced four other opponents, all of whom were former assistant prosecutors. Dan McCaffery trailed Williams with 30 percent of the vote, followed by Dan McElhatton with 16 percent, reported The Associated Press.
Mike Hess, chairman of the College Republicans, said it was a "foregone conclusion" that the Democrats would win in November. Hess said his organization has chosen not to get too involved with city politics given the overwhelming number of Democratic voters in the city.
"[There are] overwhelming six to one democrats in Philadelphia," Stefanoni said. Additionally, the Drexel Dems' president said his organization was in constant communication with the Williams campaign in what he called a "very different campaign."
In the coming months, Hess said the College Republicans would be working on possibly getting involved in the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election and the 2010 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election.
"We intend to volunteer as much as we can through to November," Stefanoni said.
The Drexel Dems, according to their president, will also be working on the senate primary race.
Finally, voter turnout for the district attorney primary was low. Stefanoni said, according to a poll volunteer and fellow Drexel Dem, 30 people voted at the Van Rensselaer polling place May 19, 75 percent of whom, were Democrats.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, voter turnout was 13 percent on primary election day. The Inquirer additionally reports that the last time a Republican won the district attorney position was in 1985, with the victory of Ronald Castille.
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