Editor’s note: Use the links below for more information on local candidates in contested races.

Next Tuesday, May 19, is primary election day in Pennsylvania, and there are a number of candidates and issues to consider for voters in Northwest Philadelphia and southeastern Montgomery County.

On the ballot are candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, the U.S. House of Representatives, state senator, state representative, state committees, and ward executive committees. In Philadelphia, there also are two ballot questions that require changes to the Home Rule Charter, which since 1951 has established the structure and rules of city government.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis are unopposed in the Democratic primary. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is the sole Republican candidate for governor, while there are two GOP candidates for lieutenant governor: John Ventre, a retired security executive from Westmoreland County, and Jason Richey, a lawyer from Allegheny County.

Locally, one of the most hotly contested is the race to replace U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, who is not running for reelection after first being elected in 2016 to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South and Center City Philadelphia. The candidates — Shaun Griffith, state Rep. Chris Rabb, Dr. Ala Stanford and state Sen. Sharif Street — are all Democrats, with no Republicans on the ballot.

In the 4th Congressional District, which includes much of Montgomery and Berks counties, incumbent U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Aurora Stuski, a business owner and longtime resident of West Norriton Township, is unopposed for the Republicans.

In the race for the state Senate’s 4th District, which includes parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, incumbent Sen. Art Haywood is being challenged in the Democratic primary by Mike Cogbill. On the Republican ballot, Todd Johnson is unopposed.

For the state House 194th District seat, which includes much of Chestnut Hill plus Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and Wissahickon, Rep. Tarik Khan is unopposed in the primary and there is no Republican candidate.

In the state’s 200th District, which includes East and West Mt. Airy, Cedarbrook and a portion of Chestnut Hill, there’s a contested race among Democrats Chris Johnson, Qasim Rashad and Deshawnda Williams. There are no Republican candidates. The seat is open after Rabb decided to run instead for U.S. Congress.

In the 201st District, which includes Germantown, Logan and West Oak Lane, Rep. Andre D. Carroll is unopposed on the Democratic ballot, with no Republican challenger. And in the 198th District, which includes southwest Germantown, state Rep. Darisha Parker is similarly unopposed on the Democratic ballot, with no GOP candidate.

There also are two proposals to amend Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter.

The first proposal asks if the city should create a retirement savings board to oversee a 401(k)-style retirement program for private-sector workers whose city-based employers do not offer a retirement benefit. Contributions to the plan, to be called “PhillySaves,” would come only from the workers. According to the nonprofit organization Pew, “participation would be mandatory but free” and the annual cost to administer the program would be $500,000, with a one year-appropriation of $1 million to set it up. The Committee of Seventy, a nonpartisan civic leadership organization established in 1904 to combat corruption in Philadelphia, says it neither supports nor opposes the plan.

The second proposal would make permanent the Office of the Youth Ombudsperson “to improve the safety and quality of service for youth placed in juvenile justice, child welfare, and behavioral health residential care facilities.” The office was actually created by then-Mayor Jim Kenney in 2022, but through executive order, not the Home Rule Charter. “In one notable report,” according to the Committee of Seventy, “the office found that staff at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center had used isolation practices in ways that broke state law.” The office’s budget of about $1 million per year would not be expected to change if this measure passes. The Committee of Seventy says the office “has already done important work to protect some of the city’s most vulnerable young people,” and supports passage.