The 12th and 59th Democratic wards, both in Germantown, hosted a community forum on Jan. 13, with five candidates running for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans.

State Rep. Chris Rabb, Chestnut Hill resident Dr. Ala Stanford, state Sen. Sharif Street, state Rep. Morgan Cephas, and Dr. David Oxman participated in the forum.

A large crowd packed into the event room at Center in the Park to hear the candidates answer questions.

State Rep. Andre Carroll, who represents Germantown, co-moderated the event alongside Amber Jones, a freshman at Temple University, and Cavance Snaith, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. Both students are also Germantown residents.

“I was very proud of how this forum came together because events like this reinforce what’s possible when Democratic leaders work collaboratively at the grassroots level,” Patrick Jones, the 59th Democratic ward leader and host of the event, told the Local. “It was especially meaningful to see 59th and 12th Ward committee people showing up together for our community, and to have Rep. Andre Carroll standing with us by moderating a thoughtful, substantive conversation. It was a reminder of the kind of democracy Germantown has long been known for.”

He added, “The intentional inclusion of college freshmen, Amber Jones and Cavance Snaith, was also important. Many of our country’s most historic Democratic victories were sparked on college campuses and driven by student leadership, and we intend to help revitalize that legacy. Overall, the event was good for our community, and I’m proud of the momentum we’re building as this race approaches.”

Carroll asked several questions of the candidates, and each was given time for a brief response. Anyone interested in watching the full forum will find a link in the online version of this story.

One question Carroll asked was, “Under [President Donald Trump], we’ve seen some repeated efforts to stretch or ignore constitution guardrails. How should Congress reassert itself as a coequal branch of government when the Executive or Judicial Branch of government overreaches?”

Stanford got the first chance to respond; she described Trump’s health as failing and discussed impeachment as a means of removing him.

She added, “What that means, and what we need to do is make sure all of these stay blue. We need to flip the red, and so that we have the majority, and the judicial branch needs to stand up and say ‘this is unconstitutional.’”

Cephas went next: “Mission number one is that we have to flip both chambers so we can actually impeach this president. … He’s not only impacted people at the cash register, he’s also impacted farmers that now in rural areas that voted for this guy now have to find different markets internationally. So he’s not just a security risk. He’s also a risk again, when it comes to our economy.”

Rabb was next: “I struggle with the premise of this question, because constitutionality clearly does not matter to the people in power. They do not respect the law. … The judiciary, which used to be independent, does not care. We should have term limits for the Supreme Court, and we should pack the Supreme Court. We’ve done it. We need to do it again.”

Oxman followed, saying, “The measure of our strength as a party is not just about how many seats we have in Congress. It’s about how we rally the institutions that make up this country to join us in opposition to [Trump]. And that’s where I felt the Democratic Party has fallen down, because in order to rally the opposition, you need to have a coherent and inspirational message, and we are not doing that right now, and our leaders are letting us down.”

Street concluded, saying, “There are things we can do. Let me tell you, when Donald Trump was out of control, the first time I sued him, not once, not twice, but over a dozen times, I was the lead plaintiff in litigation against Donald Trump. And you know what? We beat him every time. … I got elected vice chair of the party. We flipped the House. We’re two seats away from flipping the Senate. We can do it again. I will sue him, we will flip seats. I’ve done it before, I will do it as a member of Congress.”

Student questions

Toward the end of the forum, the two students, Jones and Snaith, asked the candidates questions submitted by the audience.

One question, asked by Snaith, was how the candidates would react if lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) showed up at their office.

Stanford went first: “As a mother and as a pediatric surgeon who has operated on bodies that are riddled with bullets, my stance is humanitarian. I believe in a two-state solution. I believe that Israelis should exist. I believe Palestinians should exist. I believe that we should not be funding weapons that go to war that harm and kill children and families. There is no way to justify that behavior.”

Cephas answered next: “I’ve been in the legislature for the past nine years, I’ve met with a series of groups that I have not been eye-to-eye with on 100% of the issues. … I am a firm believer that you do not hold your doors to any organization or any constituency. Now, whether I will vote in a way that’s aligned with the organization, it is actually depending on what we are voting for.”

Rabb responded with an expletive: “F*** AIPAC. They’re a terrorist organization and I will not meet with them. Their job is to terrorize folks who are on the right side of history. They’re destroying candidates’ lives because they don’t like that we’re standing up to them, that we are actively and consistently acknowledging that there is a genocide in Gaza. They are no friend to Jewish people. … I’ve been representing Jewish folk for almost a decade who have stood shoulder to shoulder with me, rabbis who say, ‘This is not Judaism. This is not what defines us.’”

Oxman followed, saying, “I answer this, I think as the only Jewish candidate here, AIPAC, exactly as Rep. Rabb said, has had a terrorizing effect, particularly on the Democratic Party … (Benjamin Netanyahu) is not only terrorizing the people of Gaza, using food as a weapon of war and collective punishment. He’s also holding the Israeli people hostage. I believe that the fate of the two people in that land are bound together. Israel cannot have security without Palestinian self-determination, and that has to happen through the end of the occupation in the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian state.”

Street concluded: “I have not taken money from AIPAC. I do not intend to. As the only Muslim candidate in this race, I will also say this: There can be no safety and security for Israel without safety and security for the Palestinian people. There can be no safety and security for Palestinian people without safety and security for the Israeli people. … There should be a free Palestinian state. And I support the right of the State of Israel to exist as well.”

Reacting to the event, Jones said, “The energy in the room was palpable. It made me excited about the future of politics in Pennsylvania, and I was happy to be a part of it.”

Snaith added, “It was wonderful. I loved being a part of an active event with members of my community. I’m excited to see Germantown become a political epicenter.”