send to a friend | print | comment

Williams officially enters race for governor

The Democratic primary for governor is again a four-way race, after state Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) formally jumped into the fray on Monday.

Williams, who’s been considering a run ever since Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox dropped out of the race last month, made his candidacy official during an address to the Pennsylvania Press Club in Harrisburg. Well-known in Philadelphia and hailing from what is essentially the First Family of black politics in the city, his presence in the race makes the wide open primary that much more so—but would also seem to make the road more difficult for Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, who was hoping to benefit from being the only southeast candidate. His decision came about a week after Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty withdrew from the contest to run for state Senate.

Despite the late start—the primary is less than three month away—Williams said he’s raised about $1.7 million, a claim that, if proven true by campaign finance data later this year, would demonstrate a prolific fundraising pace.

“We picked up a lot of organizational momentum, we’re making a lot of progress on financial commitments, and I think Democrats are still looking for a voice,” he told pa2010.com in an interview Monday evening.

He hasn’t yet hired a campaign manager, but Josh Morrow, who managed Knox’s campaign, is serving as a political consultant to Williams.  A former staffer in his Senate office is coordinating the early aspects of the campaign, and Nia Meeks, who recently worked on a Superior Court race, will be Williams’ communications director.

“The challenge is obviously raising enough resources to make sure I can be heard statewide,” he said, “and making sure we put together enough of a grassroots organization to be heard statewide. We’re very comfortable being the underdog.”

Not quite comfortable enough to risk his job, though. Williams confirmed that he’s still gathering signatures to get on the primary ballot both for governor and for reelection to the state Senate.

“I wasn’t planning to run for governor, so I’m still going to run for Senate,” he said. “After the primary, we’ll see what happens.”

February 22, 2010 at 6:08 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Anthony Williams

comments

comments [2] | post a comment