The 9th Democratic Ward, which represents Chestnut Hill and parts of Mt. Airy, has decided not to endorse a candidate running for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, with the committee split between Dr. Ala Stanford and state Rep. Chris Rabb.

According to Jeff Duncan, the 9th Ward Democratic leader, there was a tie vote among committee members, split between Rabb and Stanford, so they chose not to endorse a candidate. U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, who currently holds the seat, announced last year that he would not run for reelection.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the 59th Democratic Ward, representing Germantown, chose to endorse state Sen. Sharif Street, according to Patrick Jones, the ward leader. Street has won the endorsement of Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee.

“There was equal support within the ward committee for Chris Rabb and Ala Stanford, and therefore the committee did not endorse a candidate,” Duncan told the Local. “I think there’s also a recognition that there are a lot of good candidates in this race. And so people who supported one over the other felt that the other could still do a good job. I think that most people felt that.”

He added, “Each of them has strengths. For Chris, I think it’s because of his background in the state legislature. He’s worked on a wide variety of issues, some of which have been good training grounds for things he would encounter as a representative. With Ala Stanford, she has a strong background in health care policy, and obviously that’s a major issue of interest and concern for many people.”

While the ward chose not to endorse, individual committee people are able to support whichever candidate they choose.

Duncan is one of the committee members who supported Rabb, saying, “a major reason why I was with Chris is that I think that in the current political environment, we need somebody who is going to be an aggressive fighter for democratic issues, because we are dealing with the Trump administration, which has pretty much dedicated itself to dismantling every single program that Democrats have put into place.”

“Even when Trump leaves,” he added, “we’re still going to have to deal with the aftermath of that. So I felt Chris was the best choice given the situation that we’re in right now.”