I really hope that voters take a long, hard look at Councilman Isaiah Thomas’s resolution calling for an end to Resign To Run.
Part of the reason why the Philadelphia City Council that Council President Kenyatta Johnson presides over is so dramatically different than the one former Council President Darrell L. Clarke presided over is the city charter’s Resign To Run rule.
Under this rule, if you want to run for a city, state or federal office, and you work for the city, you have to choose to resign or run. Because of this, the six of Council’s 17 members that decided to run for mayor back in 2023 resigned their seats.
Councilmember Isaiah Thomas watched all of this and decided that all of these folks being forced to resign because they wanted to serve in another capacity was a net loss for the city. So, he proposed a ballot initiative that would modify the resign to run rule. Council passed the resolution during Thursday’s Council session, and it’ll be on the May 19 primary ballot.
“Reforming the resign to run rule for local elected officials is a critical first step towards ensuring Philadelphians have the best representation possible at all levels of government,” Thomas said in a statement. “I am grateful for the close collaboration of my colleagues and stakeholders to get this legislation across the finish line here in Council. I look forward to hearing the public’s input at the May 2026 election.”
Now on some level, I see where Councilmember Thomas is coming from. More than a few of the people who stepped down to run for Mayor were pretty good Councilpersons that had a lot going on.
But when you look at the people who would be covered by the repeal, well, you’ve got to wonder what the point of it is.
Under the initiative, elected officials not running for Mayor could keep their jobs while running for another office. For example, if you’re a councilperson and you want to run for, say the Third Congressional District seat being vacated by Dwight Evans, you could do that. You couldn’t run for re-election to your current seat at the same time like State elected officials can, but you wouldn’t have to go looking for work.
Unlike the trashman, clerk or 311 operator that has decided to run for city office. Under the initiative, they’d still have to resign to run.
Now, I have a problem with this, and it’s a problem related to the mother’s milk of politics: money.
The starting salary for City Council members is $142,000 a year according to City Records. The Council President makes $179,167.
Because the economy is still a hot mess, those salaries don’t stretch as much as they used to, someone could probably live pretty well and even save some money if you live within your means. Add to this the fact that most Councilpersons have spouses that also contribute financially, and barring any unforeseen events, like a parent getting sick, they should be able to get through.
Also, most of the people who resigned to run in 2023 weren’t just campaigning after they left Council. Government liaison jobs tend to find former elected officials the same way that Girl Scout cookies find, well, everyone this time of year.
But let’s keep it real. Those opportunities aren’t available to everyone. Especially if your last job involved occasionally having to deal with the consequences of handling the trash of people too cheap to buy good trash bags.
In a lot of ways, getting the people closest to the pain here in Philadelphia closest to the power is next to impossible. It takes a lot of money to run a campaign and keep a roof over your head simultaneously. And while the fish fry is ubiquitous during the political season, you’d need a fish market to generate funds…and because of the campaign finance laws, you couldn’t use any of that money to support your family.
This will be the third time that City residents have been asked to vote on changing the Resign to Run provision.
I really think that before they make that decision, they need to see exactly what they’re being asked to do.
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