A written vote should absolutely occur. You can’t credibly fight MAGA corruption in November while condoning intimidation in your own ward elections now. Party leaders who tolerate intimidation and unethical interference in ward races have no standing to lecture anyone about defending democracy from MAGA.”

State Rep. Chris Rabb

I spoke to members, asked for their support and further, as we presented before the contest committee yesterday, we presented them with signed affidavits [of support] and original certificates for more than 50% of the membership of the 22nd Ward. It’s one thing to see a video that’s from the back of the room, that’s really not capturing everything that happened, but for [my supporters] who were there, I think that they are even more determined now.”

Councilmember Cindy Bass

The Philadelphia Democratic Party’s contest committee on Sunday night recommended a revote to determine the leadership of the city’s 22nd Ward, led by Councilmember Cindy Bass, after controversy erupted at a June 8 meeting at which Bass rejected demands for a roll-call vote.

The committee’s recommendation will now go to a vote on Monday night at 8 p.m. with the full body of ward leaders to ratify the decision. Contest committee recommendations are typically passed by the full body without issue, according to John Brady, the political director for the city Democratic Party.

The controversy arose on June 8 when Bass held a voice vote to determine who would serve as ward leader between her and Octavius Price, a newly elected committee person running for the position.

In a video shared of the vote, Bass said, “All in favor of Octavius Price, signify by saying aye,” then did the same for herself, following it with “The ayes have it for Cindy Bass.” She then adjourned the meeting.

Price and other committee members challenged this voting method as unfair, saying it was too close to call from a voice vote.

“She did my name first, and I imagine that was because she wanted her supporters to see how loud we were, because they knew what type of election they were going to do. We did ours respectfully; we’re in a church, so we didn’t want to yell. We said ‘aye’ and then her supporters just screamed it,” Price told the Local. “We didn’t take the roll before the election. We don’t even know who was in the room. … We don’t know if they were actually committee people.”

Bass disputed Price’s claim, telling the Local, “We had the votes,” and said she remained confident in her supporters, saying, “The same ones who signed on before have all committed to vote again. It has not shown to have been any sort of weakness or deterrent in terms of headlines because they were there, they know how it went down, they saw for themselves.”

Pending approval, the revote will take place at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the city Democratic Party headquarters, and will be overseen by the state Democratic Party’s committee on organization.

“A written vote should absolutely occur,” said congressional Democratic nominee Rep. Chris Rabb, whose state House district includes the 22nd Ward. “You can’t credibly fight MAGA corruption in November while condoning intimidation in your own ward elections now. Party leaders who tolerate intimidation and unethical interference in ward races have no standing to lecture anyone about defending democracy from MAGA.”

Price said, “Chris Rabb is right. This suppression of democracy is what we expect from MAGA, not the vice chair of Philadelphia’s Democratic Party.”

On Monday, Bass said that she would “absolutely” abide by any decision the party makes on the matter.

“I spoke to members, asked for their support and further, as we presented before the contest committee yesterday, we presented them with signed affidavits [of support] and original certificates for more than 50% of the membership of the 22nd Ward,” Bass said. “It’s one thing to see a video that’s from the back of the room, that’s really not capturing everything that happened, but for [my supporters] who were there, I think that they are even more determined now.”

Bass emphasized that she had the votes to win last week and said she is confident that a second vote will go her way.

When asked if she would do anything differently moving forward, given the fallout from the vote, Bass said, “Absolutely, because there’s always an opportunity to change the dynamics of the ward. A good number of the people on both sides are really focused on how we move forward.”

Christine Foster, a 22nd Ward committee person since 2018, told the Local that she supports Bass and felt the vote was done fairly.

“I voted for Cindy, and I supported her before, and I support her again. Cindy has done a lot for the community; she has done a lot as a ward leader, and this is why she has my endorsement,” Foster said. “There’s only one ward, Ward 22, but they seem to want to divide the ward. We’re not the ones that are dividing the ward; it’s them.”

She added, “The vote was done correctly; that was the bottom line. They didn’t like it, because they always contest, they do this every ward election. … They don’t realize that because [Cindy’s challengers are] so busy within their own little group fussing and fighting, and they don’t see the positive things that she has done.”

Austin Ruby, a committee member supporting Price, told the Local that the vote was too close to call on volume alone. Ruby is among Price’s supporters who have urged a revote.

“I am a ‘hope for the best and expect the worst’ type of person,” he said, “so yes, I’m optimistic, but we’re preparing for every possibility at this point.”

Price “had a lot of support in the room,” James Zeleniak, a committee member, told the Local. “[The votes] seemed incredibly similar. The committee people in the room requested a hand count, and [Bass] refused for no apparent reason, and declared herself a winner.”

Entering his first term as a committee person after the May primary, Price is a Mt. Airy resident, board member for West Mt. Airy Neighbors, a member of the Tree Tenders program, and PTA member for Charles W. Henry School, where his daughter attends.

When asked why he is running, Price said he does not have any political aspirations and is not affiliated with groups like Wards that Work, whose supporters include Philadelphia’s Democratic Socialist and Communist Party organizations as well as progressives affiliated with Reclaim Philadelphia and Bernie Sanders.

“I do believe that sometimes people are called to stand up to meet the moment, and this just happened to be my moment,” Price said. “This wasn’t something I viewed as a stepping stone or anything of that nature. But as we were reorganizing, and we knew we had to have somebody to challenge Cindy Bass, people approached me.”

“I’ve been in the community, and people have seen my face,” he added. “They’ve seen my commitment to Mt. Airy, and they thought that I would represent all the ideals of an open ward and be a principled person that people could rally behind.”

Price and Ruby say that some committee members feel shut out of the 22nd Ward and claim that prior to the recent vote, there has not been an in-person meeting for committee members since 2022.

Bass disputes this, saying, “When the pandemic hit, we did not meet monthly, but we actually started meeting weekly via Zoom, and so we carry that on from 2020 to 2025. We meet more than most wards. … Octavius doesn’t know, because he hasn’t been here, he hasn’t been a part of this ward, he hasn’t been active in this ward, he is brand new as a committee person. … All he is going on is what he heard someone say, and I welcome him to be in the ward and be active and get to know what we do and how we do it.”

Moving forward, Bass said she’s looking forward to working together with everyone once this matter is settled.

“Anyone who wants to be a part of that is welcome to participate. I’ve always included people; I’ve always made sure people felt invited and included, despite whatever side they were on,” Bass said.

Look for the Local’s updates to this story.