At least six people were detained in Phoenixville by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday, according to a nonprofit that works with undocumented people in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Rachel Rutter, executive director of Project Libertad, said the tips regarding ICE sightings started pouring in at around 7 a.m. Agents were reportedly at an Acme, a Wawa on the other side of the borough, and a car stop at an intersection.
“It really was just kind of a feeling of the town crawling with ICE because it was just kind of coming from everywhere and they’re moving around quickly,” said Rutter, whose organization confirmed the arrests and was still pinning down the locations of where they took place.
ICE did not immediately respond to questions regarding the alleged flurry of activity and arrests.
One Phoenixville resident, who declined to give her name out of privacy concerns, said she was walking her dog when she saw four SUVs with tinted windows and siren lights on their back dashboards in the middle of a car stop just blocks from the borough’s main commercial corridor. About eight plainclothes officers, some in face masks and wearing vests with “police” emblazoned on them, were at the scene, she said.
After dropping her dog off, the woman returned to Washington Avenue, near Star Street, where she saw the officers arrest two of the car’s passengers.
“From the time I saw them until the time I left, I’d say the total time was probably about 10 minutes,” she said, adding the driver of the car would later tell her the group was heading to work.
As of Thursday afternoon, Project Libertad, which has been connecting families of people detained by ICE to legal help, food, and financial assistance, was still in the process of reaching those affected by the arrests.
Some Phoenixville immigration advocates say the timing of the sudden arrests, after what felt like a lull in ICE activity, comes two days after a unanimous Phoenixville Council vote to pass an ordinance amendment that would limit immigration enforcement on borough property.
The mayor’s office and members of the Borough Council could not be reached for comment by publication.
“We’ve seen this in other areas across the country where when a city or a town, especially around sanctuary cities, takes a stand, ICE responds in force,” said Parker Studebaker, director of the Phoenixville Liberation Center, which has been hosting “know your rights” immigration trainings.
Studebaker also expressed concern over how the arrests took place a day after President Donald Trump signed a bill funding ICE and Border Patrol through the end of his term. Many immigration advocates worry that the roughly $70 billion going to the agencies comes with little oversight.
For now, immigration advocates in Phoenixville vowed to continue organizing and educational efforts.
“We really want to make it heard and make it known that the community is coming together and is willing to defend our neighbors, and that will not change, and so that’s the best we can do is show up and meet this where it’s at,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that six people were detained.
WASHINGTON — Antonio Pozos, a Philadelphia lawyer nominated by President Donald Trump to become a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, told a Senate panel on Wednesday that former President Joe Biden won the most Electoral College votes in 2020 — though he declined to say whether Biden won the popular vote or if the Capitol was “attacked” two months later.
In a confirmation hearing alongside three other judicial nominees, Pozos said Biden was certified as the president in 2020 and that he’d seen videos from Jan. 6, 2021 in which it “appeared that there was violence and trespass.”
“It’s profoundly troubling and I abhor violence,” said Pozos, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School.
But in the back-and-forth with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), Pozos said he would “hesitate to characterize what occurred at the Capitol” when the senator asked directly if the building was “attacked” during the certification of votes.
“You hesitate to tell the truth here,” Blumenthal responded before shifting to the next nominee.
The line of questioning has become many Democrats’ main litmus test for those nominated by Trump for lifetime judicial appointments.
For years, the president has insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud led to his defeat in 2020, despite Biden winning the popular vote by more than 7 million votes that year on top of his Electoral College win.
Trump’s history of spreading misinformation about elections has fueled fears that he’ll do it again during November’s midterm elections — as he did after the California primary just last week — and that his judicial appointees will undermine a system of checks and balances.
When all of the nominees facing the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday echoed each other in only saying Biden won the Electoral College, Blumenthal accused them of having “a new script, a new pre-negotiated effort to thread the needle [and] avoid the question.”
“You are protecting the lie by failing to acknowledge the truth,” Blumenthal said. “If you’re unwilling to show us you’re independent of the president at this early stage of your service, you disqualify yourself as judicial nominees.”
At least one Democrat who has signaled he doesn’t believe Pozos should be disqualified is U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
The Pennsylvania Democrat decided against blocking his nomination during a traditional process that gives senators the opportunity to approve or reject a federal judicial nominee in their state.
It was the first time any Democrat declined to use that courtesy — in a process known as a “blue slip” — since Trump’s second term began in January 2025.
Two other Democratic senators, Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, of Michigan, however, followed Fetterman in returning a blue slip for a separate nominee in their state before Wednesday’s hearing. They said their decision was in part because of the nominee’s assurances to them that Biden won in 2020, that there was an attack on the Capitol, and that Trump cannot run for a third term.
Pozos also acknowledged during the hearing that Trump could not constitutionally win another term, which is something the president himself has declined to say.
Fetterman, from the 2020 election through Trump’s second election in 2024, frequentlyand forcefully rejected Trump’s claims of election fraud in Pennsylvania. His office did not provide a comment in response to questions from The Inquirer about why he allowed Pozos’ nomination to advance. The senator has also not said whether he will vote to confirm Pozos when the Republican-controlled Senate decides on the appointment.
But Fetterman’s move so far in the process was the latest in a series of high-profile moments in which he sided with Trump and the Republican Party while infuriating parts of his own base.
Demand Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that is critical of Trump’s nominees because of their statements on the 2020 election, joined in the criticism of Fetterman and promised to launch a six-figure ad campaign against him because of the blue slip.
“John Fetterman just cleared the path for a Trump lifetime judicial nominee,” one of the digital ads states alongside an image of Trump and Fetterman with hearts around them.
“Our message to Senate Democrats is clear: greenlight Trump’s puppet judges, and we will call you out. No exceptions,” it continued.
That threat elicited bipartisan criticism at the beginning of the hearing Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican speaking on behalf of committee chair U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, called Demand Justice a “progressive dark money group” that “sought to undermine the blue slip practice and sew further division in our country.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, also said the group was wrong to target senators who work toward agreement across party lines.
Each of the committee leaders commended Fetterman, Slotkin, and Peters for their decision — with Durbin praising them for “working in good faith with the White House.”
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) also thanked Fetterman and said Pozos was nominated because of a recommendation from a commission that the pair of Pennsylvania senators put together to vet judicial nominees.
“Tony’s a successful attorney, a strong Pennsylvanian, a decorated public servant, and he’s eminently qualified for this role,” McCormick said during the hearing.
Pozos, 44, is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School who worked as federal prosecutor before becoming a partner at Faegre Drinker in 2018.
As a trial attorney in the Criminal Fraud Section of the Department of Justice, he focused on corporate and individual healthcare fraud cases. McCormick said he had a “formidable track record of rooting out fraud, prosecuting those who abuse taxpayer dollars, and protecting Americans from predatory healthcare systems.”
In a questionnaire published by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Pozos also listed active memberships in the Federalist Society — the legal organization that has sought to appoint conservative judges across the country — as well as the Union League of Philadelphia and the Merion Cricket Club.
In addition to the election-focusedinquiries, Pozos also faced questions about applying the False Claims Act — which penalizes individuals and companies from defrauding the government — and the controversial Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that protects online platforms from liability for what their users post.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R. La.) grew frustrated when he believed Pozos was not fully answering his question about whether, under Section 230, Facebook should be protected and if it should have the ability to decide what users see. Pozos, like other judicial nominees who say they cannot weigh in specifically on the types of cases they may have to rule on, began answering when Kennedy said he had “no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re better off just answering the question, you really are,” Kennedy said.
Asked by the Democratic chair about the importance of diversity — which Trump has widely sought to diminish — Pozos said he has mentored young lawyers “from a wide range of backgrounds” and that it was important to “get all pockets of talent wherever they may be in our country and welcome them into the legal profession.”
Pressed by Durbin if diversity is important in filling positions in the legal system, Pozos said, “If we are true to seeking out excellence wherever it may be, that question will be moot.”
Philadelphia’s powerfulHouse delegation to Harrisburg will push state lawmakers to close a loophole that allows online sellers to avoid paying Philadelphia’s 2% sales and use tax, its chair, Democratic Rep. Morgan Cephas, said Tuesday, as legislative leaders seek a quick state budget deal in a consequential midterm election year.
The tax would be exacted on online sellers based outside the city selling goods to Philadelphia customers, including retail giants such as Amazon. Currently, sellers outside the city have to collect only the 6% state sales tax.
The proposal — estimated to generate an additional $1.5 million for the city — would require authorizing legislation to be passed by the state and signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
When asked about the Philadelphia delegation’s effort to revive one of Parker’s tax proposals — albeit the one that would generate the least revenue for the city — Joe Grace, a spokesperson for Parker, said it is a “technical amendment.”
That development comes as top lawmakers are in closed-door budget negotiations trying to find additional revenue to close the state’s deficit, where Pennsylvania is expected to spend more than it brings in this fiscal year and in the future, ahead of the constitutionally required June 30 deadline. Legislators often blow past that deadline, with last year’s budget agreement stretching nearly five months after talks stalled over mass transit funding and resurfaced Pennsylvania’s rural-urban divide.
Here is a look at the status of state budget negotiations, what Philadelphia’s delegation wants in a final budget deal, and the potential sticking points as the deadline draws nearer.
Talks are ‘further along’ — in a big midterm year
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said in an interview last week that legislators are “a lot further along” in their budget negotiations than they were at this point last year, but still have more to do to rein in spending.
Other top legislative leaders echoed a similar hope that budget talks will not draw out into another monthslong impasse during the midterm election year in Pennsylvania’s split legislature, where Democrats hope to ride an anticipated blue wave to gain seats in both chambers while Republicans hope to stave it off and maintain control of the state Senate.
“There’s nothing like a political wave to help politicians focus,” said House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) in an interview last week.
Shapiro proposed a $53.2 billion budget earlier this year, which would be a 6.2% spending increase over last year and would largely rely on the state’s Rainy Day Fund and new revenue streams from skill games and adult-use cannabis to help fill a $4.6 billion budget hole. The state House in April passed Shapiro’s budget as introduced, though the final product will be struck in closed-door meetings involving Pittman, Bradford, and Shapiro. The three negotiators may call on additional leaders to join the budget talks in the state’s tightly divided legislature, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the House and Republicans control the Senate with a three-seat majority.
In previous midterm election years, the electoral pressure has sped up negotiations, as legislators want to bring home results to their constituents before they return to the campaign trail in a year when the governor’s mansion and control of the state House and Senate are on the line.
‘An opportunity to regroup with Council and regroup with our mayor’
Philadelphia’s delegation to Harrisburg, made up of 25 lawmakers representing parts of the state’s most populous city, will take up Parker’s requested sales tax loophole closure, in addition to any other requests from City Council once the city’s budget receives final approval on Thursday, Cephas said.
“City Council hasn’t finalized their budget just yet. So we are paying close attention as to what is the final product that gets across the finish line, and then we look at it, look at it as an opportunity to regroup with Council and regroup with our mayor to see where we are and where there’s still gaps that would potentially fill,” Cephas added.
State Rep. Morgan Cephas, who leads the Philadelphia delegation in Harrisburg, attends a get-out-the-vote rally for State Sen. Sharif Street at the Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia Monday, May 18, 2026 on the day before Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for the 3rd Congressional District. Cephas was a candidate for the same seat, but withdrew early in the race.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
As part of several proposals meant to juice revenue from gig economy companies, Parker requested the city’s sales tax loophole be closed in her budget pitch in March.
Closing the loophole, however, was an easier sell in Harrisburg than Parker’s efforts to raise taxes on city hotels and short-term rentals, which would have also required state legislative approval.
Last week, sources close to state budget negotiations told The Inquirer there was no interest in raising taxes in Philadelphia as Parker had proposed, even on big tech companies, in an election year. Shortly after, any support appeared to evaporate in City Council for Parker’s proposed taxes on hotels and rideshare services to fund homelessness-prevention programs and help plug the Philadelphia School District’s $300 million structural deficit.
Shapiro previously said he was uninterested in raising any taxes, and has boasted about cutting taxes in past budgets.
Shapiro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Billionaire big tech companies just won round one in this process,” says Mayor Cherelle L. Parker at City Hall Thursday, June 4, 2026 after City Council rejected most of her tax proposals for the city budget.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Cephas said Philadelphia’s statehouse delegation is also focused on continuing to increase public education funding through the state’s new adequacy formula, expanding a popular student-teacher stipend program, and increasing funding to improve school facilities.
The delegation — which includes Democratic legislative leaders such as House Speaker Joanna McClinton and House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris, who are involved in budget talks — will also push to expand a working families tax credit, a childcare tax credit, and an increase to the state minimum wage from its current $7.25 per hour, Cephas said.
Potential sticking point: Skill games and gaming expansions
The big unknown in Pennsylvania’s Capitol is whether lawmakers this year will finally address skill games and other gaming expansions in the state as an effort to raise additional revenue.
Skill games are slot-machine look-alikes that have proliferated around Pennsylvania and, despite coaxing from Shapiro to tax them at a much lesser rate than the hefty 52% levied on slot machines, remain unregulated and untaxed by the state. Shapiro estimated that taxing machines at the same rate as slots would generate $765.9 million in its first year.
A case is before the state Supreme Court to determine whether the machines found in restaurants, corner stores, and bars are legal — and distinct from other gambling devices.
Skill games can be seen through the door of a mini mart on Kensington Avenue in the Kensington section of Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 30, 2025.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
The deep-pocketed skill games lobby had long been an ally of the Senate GOP until recent years, when Republicans considered a higher-than-desired tax on the industry that the lobbyists claim would hurt small businesses. The relationship eroded further last month when a conservative group tied to the skill games lobby helped fund three unsuccessful primary challenges to Republican state senators.
Now, top GOP lawmakers say they are awaiting the court ruling before they decide how to tax the devices.
Another emerging form of gaming that could require state regulation would be prediction markets like Kalshi or Polymarket, which allow users to place bets on the outcome of events, including elections. Pittman said he wants federal lawmakers to regulate the new industry, while House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) said “it will need to be addressed.”
“Prediction markets, to me, seem to be a whole new world,” Pittman said last week. “That is something that the federal government really needs to grab onto in a very consistent manner to make sure that you have consistent policy nationwide on that front.”
State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, a veteran state senator from Philadelphia known for his advocacy on school choice and who has led one of the city’s most muscular political factions for decades, says November will be his last time running for reelection.
But first, he has more work to do for the advancement of Black Philadelphians and the Democratic Party before he retires, he added in an interview this week.
Williams, 69, did not commit to completing another four-year term, opening up the possibility that he could handpick his successor if he decides to retire early.
“I’m thinking about getting reelected and serving, that’s all I’m thinking about,” he said. “I’m here, I’m gonna run to November, and we’ll see what happens after that.”
Williams ran unopposed in 1998for the seat after his father, the late Hardy Williams, decided within hours of the filing deadline he would not run for reelection. At the time, the move was was widely seen as an intentional play by the late Williams to hold the seat for his son. Now, Anthony H. Williams says that recollection excluded a key piece of information as to why his father retired so suddenly: He had been diagnosed with dementia just before he decided not to run.
“We didn’t have a plan for me to take over,” the younger Williams said, noting that former State Rep. James Roebuck Jr. had filed to run, too, but ultimately withdrew from the race due issues with his petitions. “It wasn’t like I got a free pass.”
When a state legislator resigns before the end of his or her term, a special election is called to fill the vacancy. The ward leaders in that district then get to choose who should take over the seat, dodging a competitive primary and largely deciding the outcome in closed-door meetings.
Anthony Hardy Williams (left), seen here in 1998, when he was a state representative and his father (right) was a state senator.File photo
Williams —who has been in state government, both as a representative and senator, for nearly four decades — is seeking his sixth term to represent parts of Southwest Philadelphia and Delaware County in Harrisburg. He recently won his primary election over Democratic challenger David Goldsmith Jr. and will not face a Republican challenge in November.
Williams has had a far-reaching — and at times, turbulent — legacy in Harrisburg and the city, running twice unsuccessfully for Philadelphia mayor in 2015 and 2019 and once unsuccessfully for governor in 2010.
Over 37 years in Harrisburg, Williams has mentored numerous young Philadelphians who started as aides in his Senate office, who have gone on to becometop legislative leaders. That list includes: House Speaker Joanna McClinton, Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris, Superior Court Judge Timika Lane and more.
State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, State Rep. Jordan Harris and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson at the Inaugural Dorys Erving Fit Youth Foundation Celebration at the Ritz-Carlton on Friday, November 15, 2013. (HughE Dillon/Philly.com)
“It’s a testament to his dedication and his commitment to seeing Black independent politics grow and mentoring young people to get into office — not to just be there, but to do something,” Harris said Friday.
Looking at Williams’ list of mentees who now outrank him in office shows his legacy and humility, Harris added. And Williams is willing to have spirited disagreements with his mentees, Harris said.
“He’s mentored people who vehemently disagree with him on certain issues, but the endgame of upward mobility for underrepresented people is all the same,” Harris said.
Johnson, in a statement, credited Williams for playing a formative role in his political climb, and for always being willing to “share his wisdom, offer candid advice, and invest in the next generation of leaders.”
“Philadelphia is a better city because of [Williams’] service, and I am proud to call him both a colleague and a friend,” Johnson added.
In an interview, Williams said that he’s seen Harrisburg change tremendously since he first was elected to as a state representative in 1989. Today, Democrats control the state House after flipping the chamber in 2022 for the first time in 12 years, a Black woman from Philadelphia leads the House, and a democratic socialist leads Philadelphia’s delegation to Harrisburg in the Senate. Democratic lawmakers successfully fought to change how Pennsylvania’s public education system is funded, and they’ve advanced gun reforms.
And, he said, it’s no longer a place for career politicians like him.
Philadelphia elected officials State Rep. Rick Krajewski (from left), State Sen. Nikil Saval, and State Sen. Anthony Williams attend a rally at the University of Pennsylvania Mar. 20, 2025.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
But Williams said there are still critical issues of policy and politics that he wants to address with his time left in office.
First, he wants to be a bridge between generations of Democratic leaders — though he dislikes how Democrats currently label themselves as “progressive” or “moderate” to differentiate their views. He said he’s been speaking frequently with progressive leaders since State Rep. Chris Rabb, a democratic socialist, won the party’s nomination to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District in Congress.
“The Democratic Party as it’s currently constituted is something that’s not current, and not visionary about moving forward,” Williams said.
“I want to spend time working with those folks who are in that progressive community who will identify with the fact we have common ground on a lot of these areas. We have a different rhythm, or as they say, a different vibe,” he added.
Throughout his time in office, he said he’s had his ideas stolen and boasted by white leaders, including a successful illegal gun task force. He’s cut deals with top Republicans for impactful programs that still exist today, such as an apprenticeship program that helped increase diversity in the building trades. He’s been an outcast at times as one of few Democrats to advocate for school choice options, a label that he knows follows him.
News conference hosted by Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony H. Williams (podium) outside the Penn Carey Law School, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. At rear from left are Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, law professor Stacy Hawkins, State Rep. Napoleon Nelson, Rev. Marshall Mitchell, Penn Trustee Board, State Rep. Rick Krajewski, State Sens. Nikil Saval and Art Haywood.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Now, he wants the buy-in of statelegislators and the private sector to address economic inequities among Black Philadelphians. Black residents make up the largest racial or ethnic groups in Philadelphia, but have one of the highest poverty rates in the city with 22.3% of Black residents living in poverty in 2024, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts survey released this year. Instead, Black residents should be driving the economy, Williams said.
“Fundamentally, we have to take hold of the economy in the city,” he said. “We collectively have the power to do something about it. Not individually, collectively.”
He sees more school choice options — and reimagining the whole public school system if necessary — as part of this solution. He’s faced criticism throughout his career for his support of school choice efforts, citing his big-dollar support from Pennsylvania’s richest man Jeffrey Yass, who solely supports candidates willing to send state money to private schools.
Yass, who usually supports Republican candidates, was among the sole funders of Williams’ failed bids for governor and mayor. Williams has been criticized for taking money from a top GOP supporter who wants to divert money away from Pennsylvania’s public school system.
“People think I’m a one-hit wonder,” Williams said of his support for using public dollars to send some students to private schools. “We have to be honest about what we’re doing and not doing and have honest, hard conversations about how we’re gonna change how we do this.”
The euphoria at Chris Rabb’s election night party last month hadn’t even started to wane before the democratic socialist and his supporters — dancing and hugging after capturing a rarely open Philadelphia seat in Congress — spoke of setting their sights even higher.
Taking on the city’s Democratic establishment to defeat a pair of more centrist candidates in the heated 3rd Congressional District race was a momentous win on its own. But the reckoning, they promised, wouldn’t be confined to Philadelphia’s borders.
“It’s going to change not just our city, but our entire commonwealth,” Rabb said in an interview amid the celebration at a Germantown banquet hall.
It was a sentiment echoed that night by key figures in Rabb’s coalition — from the head of the Working Families Party to Pittsburgh’s U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, the only other democratic socialist representing a part of Pennsylvania.
With the 2026 Pennsylvania Democratic primary in the rearview mirror, that conversation has broadly and quickly turned to the next biggest prize in the state: the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat John Fetterman.
The senator has not said whether he will run for a second six-year term in 2028. But in an unusual situation for an high-profile elected official, a robust intraparty competition to replace him is expected to start either way in the next year as Fetterman increasingly sides with Republicans and as polls show that his support among Democratic voters has nose-dived.
State Rep. Chris Rabb is hugged by his son, Issa Rabb, during his primary election night event at Victorian Banquet Hall on May 19.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Some Democrats who watched Rabb emerge from a competitive race, notching one of the left’s biggest wins yet in Pennsylvania, see an opportunity — one that extends the energy and momentum to boost a well-organized, progressive, anti-establishment candidate in the Senate primary.
Other strategists and activists say that’s a tall task, particularly in a swing state that rarely strays from electing more centrist politicians statewide.
“Anytime you have success, it breeds enthusiasm, which translates into more volunteers, into more money — everything you need to run a campaign,” said Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist. “But every election cycle is different. Every campaign’s different. The quality of candidates are different. And anybody who says that any one race signifies a permanent change within a party is mistaken.”
‘A huge impact on the political landscape of Pennsylvania’
In his campaign to succeed U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, Rabb, a five-term state lawmaker, won 44% of the vote. He was up against State Sen. Sharif Street, who had the backing of the city Democratic apparatus, and physician Ala Stanford, a political newcomer endorsed by Evans.
That progressive infrastructure — the coming together of different groups to knock doors, make calls to voters, and unleash a significant independent advertising campaign in a way that rivaled the official Democratic Party organization — is likely the most important way that the left can use the experience of Rabb’s campaign to replicate its success elsewhere, strategists said.
It’s a template that could have “a huge impact on the political landscape of Pennsylvania,” said Rotimi Adeoye, a Philadelphia-based Democratic strategist who worked in the office of former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
In a district packed with Democratic voters, Rabb’s ability to turn out progressive voters should draw the attention of anyone looking to win the state’s Democratic Senate primary in 2028, Adeoye said.
“If a Democrat running statewide can learn from some of these organizational groups to build a strong, relational and community-based organizing campaign in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs in Montgomery County, Bucks County — they’re going to have a really big chance of winning,” Adeoye said.
In a sign that those efforts could coalesce around a Senate candidate, one of the groups that helped usher Rabb to victory remains the only major Democratic entity in the state to have publicly started laying the groundwork for a challenge to Fetterman.
The Working Families Party, which backed Fetterman in the 2022 general election after originally endorsing State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta in the primary, said in November it would organize an effort to oust him. A “Primary Fetterman” website launched in January is equipped with a “Fetterman sell-out tracker” — highlighting his votes for Trump’s cabinet nominees and opposition to war powers resolutions that would rein in his military strikes, for example — and instructions for donors on how to request a refund from his campaign.
The website remains the extent of the group’s efforts so far to rally public support and back a new candidate, though its work is expected to pick up after this year’s midterm elections. For now, the party is looking forward to bringing new members who worked to elect Rabb into its fold.
“Our goal is always to keep building on the work we do each cycle and the success we have each cycle,” said Nick Gavio, the Working Families Party’s Mid-Atlantic communications director.
One PA, another statewide group in that progressive coalition, has not yet had internal discussions about the Senate race but it supports the Working Families Party’s position as a member of its steering committee, executive director Steve Paul said. He said more than 150 members of One PA mobilized for Rabb by talking to thousands of voters.
Winning a high-profile congressional race only helps add to that organizational infrastructure, making them “sharper for the next thing,” Paul said.
“I think it shifts what’s possible, politically — what people can envision,” he said.
Potential progressive roadblocks
Mikus said progressives have increasingly surpassed “more establishment Democrats” in their ability to run strong campaigns, including in his area of Western Pennsylvania where candidates like Lee have emerged in the last decade.
Democratic primary voters are also more progressive than they were 10 years ago, he said. But campaigning on a far-left — or a far-right — platform doesn’t often equate to success on a statewide level in Pennsylvania, a swing state where successful candidates tend to walk a “fine line” that appeals to both swing voters and a message that excites their partisan base, Mikus said.
“You’ve seen this time after time in presidential elections here in Pennsylvania,” Mikus said. “Hillary Clinton versus Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden versus Bernie Sanders. The vast majority of voters in Pennsylvania will go with the more mainstream Democrat.”
J.J. Balaban, a Philadelphia-based Democratic strategist and ad maker, said the party runs the risk of “drawing too big of a conclusion” based on a single election — particularly one like Rabb’s where candidates only needed to appeal to Democrats.
“Democrats really need to think hard about what it will take to win statewide in a purple state, which Pennsylvania clearly is,” Balaban said. “What it will take to win a general election in Pennsylvania is very, very different than what it will take to win in literally the most Democratic congressional district in the country.”
After recent years of tough losses — including the ousting of Casey by now-U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican — Democratic voters will likely have a “tremendous thirst for candidates who have a credible case to make that they can win the general election,” Balaban said.
Fetterman, whose office did not comment for this story, has insisted that Pennsylvania’s purple state status means he should appeal to both sides of the aisle and not demonize the other side.
“Look at the people that are winning the primaries in our party right now, and look at their views on Israel,” Fetterman said at an American Jewish Committee conference in Washington this week.
On stage with McCormick and the head of the Jewish advocacy organization, Fetterman painted Graham Platner, the expected Democratic nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine, as a “Nazi sympathizer” and connected him to Rabb.
“People also in our state, too. Rabb, he won, and he ran on being a very, very anti-Israel guy,” Fetterman said. “It’s actually a virtue [in the modern Democratic Party] … It’s heartbreaking for me. And if it isolates me, then so be it.”
Who might run?
Of the Democrats widely considered to be eyeing a campaign to replace Fetterman, the public jockeying has so far been limited to criticisms of the incumbent.
Former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate who represented a suburban Pittsburgh district before Fetterman beat him in the 2022 Senate primary, has frequently lambasted him.
Conor Lamb speaks to the crowd at a town hall-style event organized by progressive groups at Central Penn College on June 22, 2025, in Enola, Pa. Marc Levy
And U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, who succeeded Lamb and leaned into progressive economic populism, has taken a less direct tack while noting the differences between himself and Fetterman over issues like Trump’s military interventions abroad. Deluzio has occasionally reposted others’ criticisms on social media — including one from Gavio, the Working Families Party spokesperson, last week that called Fetterman’s reversal on eliminating the filibuster “a new low” and “an indescribably massive backtrack from everything he ran on.”
None of the three have ruled out running.
Boyle is expected to weigh a Senate campaign vs. staying in the House to take a rare opportunity to lead the powerful budget committee if Democrats win the majority in November. Lamb, who’s remained highly active in Pennsylvania politics, said in an interview that he’s hoping to serve again and would run for office if he feels he “can be of service to the state.” Deluzio, who is also heavily involved in helping Democratic candidates across the state, said he’s focused on his reelection this year and that “we’ll see what 2028 holds.”
“I am not at all interested in seeing us lose this Senate election, and I certainly have gotten a lot of encouragement to look at 2028,” Deluzio said.
Progressives have also mentioned Lee, the Rabb ally who’s been a vocal member of the leftist wing on Capitol Hill while taking leadership roles in areas like securing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
U.S. Reps. Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio, both Pittsburgh-area Democrats, speak outside the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County on May 28 after getting a tour of the facility, the largest detention center for undocumented immigrants in the Northeast.Sam Janesch / Staff
With potential candidates still several months away from making their decisions, it’s unclear who might try to take up the progressive mantle if Lee does not run, strategists say.
The field could also grow considerably. Other potential candidates could jump in, including the three other current Pennsylvania Democrats in Congress or former lawmakers like Susan Wild, who lost a swing congressional district in the Lehigh Valley in 2024. Wild said she’s “not ruling out” a run but she’s more interested in thinking about good female candidates in general since no woman has ever won a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat.
On the prospects of a battle between different factions of the party, Lamb said he believed Democrats had broadly learned a lesson — from Fetterman’s election in 2022, where he ran on being a reliable Democratic vote in the Senate — that was beyond ideological policy tests.
“Fetterman taught Democrats in Pennsylvania that you have to have a character test. Anybody can run around the state promising you these further left solutions, and that they’re going to be a thumb in the eye of the establishment, and they’re going to channel all your anger and dissatisfaction. And then that person can turn on you on a dime,” Lamb said. “The fact is that we have to evaluate our candidates based on whether they have integrity and they’re going to keep their word and, honestly, whether they have the work ethic to be a senator day in, day out.”
Keenya Banks lives in Philadelphia with her husband and the two grandchildren they care for. She has never been to Fishkill in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Yet, that’s where someone spent more than $650 in food assistance benefits for her familyat a Sam’s Club in April in an alleged case of EBT skimming, just one of the more than 5,100 cases reported in Pennsylvania between the start of the year and May. This year’s skimming incidents account for approximately $2.5 million in stolen benefits, according to the Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General, which investigates the reports and seizes the skimming devices.
It’s likely Banks used her EBTcard in a point-of-sale machine rigged with a device designed to copy her card information and pin number. Someone then applied her EBT information to a different physical card and drained her monthly benefits the next day.
“I was too numb to cry because I just couldn’t believe it,” said Banks, 56, who was alerted to the fraud as she tried to purchase food days after she had gotten her month’s benefits. “They said, ‘Ma’am, this is declined.’ I said, ‘No, no, I have at least 600-something dollars.’”
Even more devastating to Banks: For a brief stretch of time, benefits were being reimbursed through a federal program, but that ended December 2024 because Congress did not extend funding. The most that the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services can do is direct victims to food banks and other food assistance programs. The end of the federal reimbursement program also means the skimming incident data Pennsylvania has on hand are likely an undercount: Victim advocates say people may simply skip reporting if they believe nothing can be done.
Pennsylvania is looking at a possible solution, but without one immediately available, Banks spent a month scrambling to put food on the table with the help of food pantries and what she had on hand.
“We had been storing up, like a lot of canned goods and water, and we had a deep freezer, and thank God we were able to really kind of make ends meet.”
Victim advocates argue EBT skimming has risen to a nationwide crisis because the federal government has failed to invest in more secure card technology. Between October 2022 and the end of the reimbursement program in 2024, states reported $320 million in stolen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, according to the Government Accountability Office.
EBT cards: From cutting-edge technology to scammers’ favorite
The idea that someone’s food benefits could be loaded digitally onto something that worked like a debit card was once revolutionary.
Before federal supplemental food assistance could be loaded onto a card, it used to come by way of coupon books or mailed checks, depending on the program. These methods not only came with high administrative costs but in the case of the coupons, also known as “food stamps,” there was an element of stigma and a risk of forgery.
The federal government launched its first “electronic benefit transfer” pilot in Reading in 1984, yet it was not until 2002 that all states were required to make the switch.
By then, scammers had already learned how to exploit the magnetic stripe technology used in debit, credit, and EBT cards. While banks have made cards more secure by adopting chip technology, the federal government has stuck with the magnetic stripes for EBT cards.
In the absence of chip adoption, states have resorted to other added security measures. Last May, Pennsylvania launched ConnectEBT, an app that allows people to lock their cards until they are at the checkout line, ready to use them.
Mackenzie Libbey, staff attorney in the health and independence unit at Community Legal Services, noted the current system places the onus on families, which are required to lock and unlock their cards, monitor their spending, and change their PIN regularly to stay ahead of fraudsters.
“It’s just not something that anyone would expect of a middle-class consumer using a credit or debit card,” Libbey said. “It’s a lot of extra effort to protect benefits that they have shown they’re entitled and eligible to receive.”
The federal government did not approve the use of chip and tap-enabled EBT cards until 2024, largely due to concerns over the costs of upgrading the aging technological infrastructure in use.
Some states were eager to become early adopters and tackle the skimming issue.
In February 2025, California became the first state to begin replacing the magnetic stripe cards, with a handful of states following suit because of their own issues with skimming. Oklahoma launched a two-month pilot this March, and in April, Massachusetts announced its plan for a pilot later this year. New Jersey also has plans for a chip card rollout.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved only two vendors for the new cards, and users in early adopter states have complained about issues with the chips and difficulties getting the cards to process.
Those issues gave Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services Val Arkoosh pause. She has previously said the technology was not quite ready.
In a May hearing with the House Democratic Policy Committee, however, Arkoosh said Pennsylvania’s vendor had promising data. After Alabama adopted chip cards, the state saw an 83% reduction in theft in 60 days among the people using the chip, she said.
“I do think I can now sit here and say to you, I believe that the technical issues have largely been solved,” she said at the hearing. “I didn’t want us to embark on this before we were confident that it would work, but I think we’re there now.”
And there appears to be interest in Harrisburg to go after EBT skimming.
A bipartisan bill that would require Pennsylvania to transition to chip-enabled EBT cards by 2028 moved out of committee Wednesday to the full House.
A recent cost estimate puts the overhaul at about $14 million, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. It would take six to eight months to roll out chip cards after approval, barring any significant challenges, according to a December report by the department.
Should legislators in Harrisburg choose to fund the transition, they would have an incentive to move fast. While the federal government used to split SNAP administrative costs evenly with states, come Oct. 1, states will be on the hook for 75% of these expenses because of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
For now, the Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General’s skimming response teams continue to search for these devices and prosecute fraudsters. Between April 2025 and March of this year, the agency said, it had prevented $8.3 million in potential losses.
The USDA, meanwhile, said it is not stopping at card locking and chip adoption. It is combating skimming and other SNAP fraud with mobile payment pilots and encouraging states to block out-of-state and online SNAP transactions by default.
These efforts, while welcome, cannot undo what Banks and her family went through the month after the theft they experienced. She hopes her story can alert other families to scammers targeting EBT users.
Until chip cards come, even Banks’ 10-year-old grandson is on the lookout, monitoring their card benefits and inspecting point-of-sale machines at the grocery stores.
“He’s so tech savvy and he’s very, very wary,” she said. “So he’s like, ‘Grandma, did you check and see if there’s a skimmer on there?’”
