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The election season in retrospect

We’ll proudly say this was not a boring fight. Here's our take on what happened in the last few months.

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Well, tomorrow’s E-Day. It’s finally here.

With over 200 articles, thousands of Tweets, and umpteen pressers and forums, AL DÍA hopes that we did our part to contribute to your intake of 2015 primary election coverage. Whether you still haven’t decided who to vote for, or you’ve been tirelessly following the primary elections to this point and just want a break, here’s a roundup of the last five months.

If you’re reading this, chances are you are already a dedicated supervoter. But what will really make a difference tomorrow is whether Philadelphia can get out in large numbers to the booths. If you can encourage one reluctant voter, whether it be a friend or a distant neighbor, to get out to the vote tomorrow, you'll have done a great service to your city.

 

The candidates and the key issues

In retrospect, we’ll proudly say this was not a boring fight. At first, it looked like history would be made: former City Solicitor Ken Trujillo set his eyes on City Hall; Judge Nelson Diaz announced his campaign to cries of “Si, se puede!” For a moment, two of the city’s most prominent Latinos were running for the executive office.

Even after Trujillo dropped out of the race, there was plenty to be excited about. A young, effervescent man from Germantown challenged the notion that you have to be a politician to be mayor. A long-time charter school advocate fought to show he had other issues on his mind. The son of a South Philly firefighter left his City Council seat of 23 years and entered the race with a late running start. At age 73, one of the city’s toughest, most contentious crime-fighters showed everyone she was still a force to reckon with. An eccentric street-vendor-turned-state-senator proved that not even the law could keep him off the ballot.

And how could someone yawn through the problem-solving brainstorm exercise that was this campaign season? Schools were a top priority issue. Important questions about language access and universal pre-K were added to the ballot. Everything from social justice issues to incarceration rates to immigration to technology to the charter school debate had to be debated, and it was enough to test everyone’s patience.

There were plenty of weak, unenthusiastic ideas; and plenty more that showed promise.

How much will the candidate’s policy proposals affect the results of tomorrow’s election? We don’t know. Paperwork is only one part of what it takes to be a viable candidate in this town.

 

Latinos making a splash

Latinos made the headlines in this race, perhaps more than in any other election cycle.

It wasn’t always for the most flattering reasons, though. We reported on the concerning campaign of former tow-truck driver Juan Rodriguez, who may or may not have declared his candidacy in a strip club. Then there was ‘Morales-gate,’ which began as a scandal in the 7th District and later stained the mayoral race itself.

AL DÍA’s managing editor Sabrina Vourvoulias penned editorial after editorial to condemn the provincial infighting of Philly’s Latino politicians, to celebrate those who raised the bar, and to criticize the skeptics about Latino political velocity.

But it goes without saying that, whether by virtue or by sin, Latinos have made a bigger splash this time around.

And yet unrepresentation continues, and will continue to be a problem after tomorrow night.

While they represent more than 13 percent of the city’s population, Latinos have only four candidates, two or three of whom they can vote for tomorrow — Nelson Diaz for mayor, either Manny Morales or Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez in the 7th District (if you happen to live there), and Mia Roberts Perez for judge.

 

Questions (un)asked

There are still countless unasked questions and unwritten reports about the six Democratic candidates for mayor, and countless more about the packed City Council race, which we lament only being able to cover in part.

But nonetheless, here were some of the issues that AL DÍA tackled in the last few months.

Does age matter in the mayor’s race?

Can any of the mayoral candidates get the Latino vote?

Low voter turnout isn’t a Latino problem, it’s a Philadelphia problem

What do the city’s homeless what they want from City Hall?

Indomitable women in Philly politics

The grassroots campaign of Doug Oliver

Do we have a responsible mayor for the energy hub?

The old Jim Kenney versus the new Jim Kenney

The old Lynne Abraham versus the new Lynne Abraham

Milton Street’s fan club

The Muslim community at the political table

Anthony Williams campaign finance problems

The mayoral candidates, their kids, and a Philly education

Williams fights the ‘charter guy’ narrative

Senior citizens vote, but do they have a candidate?

The good, the bad, and the ugly of fighting crime

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