Run for Office in 2025…Steps to Run for Political Office

The Primary Election in Pennsylvania will take place on May 20, 2025. Locally, the most critical seat up for grabs is the District Attorney. Democrat Larry Krasner is the current D.A. To date, no names have surfaced to the SCOOP that are ready to go public as possible opponents against the sometimes embattled District Attorney.
To run for District Attorney in Philadelphia, you must have been a resident of the city for at least one year, and you have to have been a practicing attorney for at least two years. When you get elected, it is a four-year term.
To run for district attorney, along with all your filing papers, you have to turn in a petition from registered voters in the city that is true and correct, with dates, addresses, and zip codes, too.
The other interesting thing about the office of the District Attorney in Philadelphia is that there is no moratorium on that office. You can only be Mayor of Philadelphia for two consecutive terms. You can only be Governor of Pennsylvania for two consecutive terms. However, if you are a popular District Attorney in Philadelphia and you do the job well, it seems you can keep getting voted back in over and over until you’re ready to retire or a better candidate comes along and retires you.

The office of City Controller is also up for grabs in 2025. This too, is an office that is a four-year term. The current City Controller is Christine Brady.
Candidates who want to run for City Controller need to turn in one thousand legitimate registered voters signatures on their petition as well. You are required to be at least 25 years old to run for D.A. or City Controller.

Judges of Elections and Inspectors of Elections have to run in 2025. Judge of Elections only needs ten signatures on a petition for them to run, and candidates for Inspector of Elections only need five signatures.

There are also opportunities for new judges to get elected to the bench in Philadelphia in 2025. For judicial candidates, they need to turn in petitions with a thousand names on them.

The following information comes directly from the Philadelphia City Commissioners website. I share it here in the SCOOP because the reality is that even though it’s 2024, there’s still a good portion of our population who are not “computer people.” There’s a good segment of our city residents who do not go on the internet every day, and so, unless I share the website information on these pages of the SCOOP, some folk will miss the boat completely.
Certain requirements must be met to serve as public officials.
For instance, there are minimum age requirements tied to each elected office, and elected officials in Philadelphia must live in Philadelphia for a certain period of time prior to their election.
US citizenship is a requirement for all elected offices in Pennsylvania.
It behooves all political candidates and their campaign managers and treasurers to understand campaign finance requirements. Carefully study and read all Campaign finance-related requirements, which you can access online at the Philadelphia City Commissioners website.
Prospective candidates for office must also file nomination petitions or nomination papers in order to appear on the Primary or General Election ballot. These petitions and papers are circulated by candidates and their representatives to gather signatures from registered electors. Nomination petitions are filed by candidates running with a major political party (Democratic or Republican) prior to a Primary Election.
At the time of writing this column, there are currently no nomination petitions available for municipal offices. There are currently no nomination papers available for municipal offices. Be patient. A few weeks into the new year, those documents will be available. You can start by calling the Philadelphia City Commissioners office at 215-686-3462.
Candidates nominated at the Primary Election and candidates who file Nomination Papers with other political parties will appear on the General Election ballot.
What I just shared are some of the official things a candidate must do, and do it in a timely fashion, in order to hopefully get their name on the ballot for the Spring of 2025 Primary Election.
There’s a list of other things a candidate must do as well. I will outline some of those things in my first column of the New Year.
Meanwhile, let me also remind our amazing SCOOP USA Newspaper readers that participating in the political process is one of the most critical things we can do as American citizens–once we come of age. Becoming of age means 18. Once you are 18 years old or older and you are an American citizen, you can and should participate–twice a year in political elections. Across the nation, the General election is always held on the first Tuesday of the month in November. Depending on what state you live in, Primary elections are held at different times between the Spring and summer.
Save the date on your calendar now. May 20, 2025, is the next Primary Election for the state of Pennsylvania. The New Jersey Primary Election for 2025 is slated for June 10, 2025, and in Newark, Delaware, the 2025 Primary Election is slated for April 8, 2025.
More to come.
Meanwhile, peace and blessings as we say goodbye to 2024 and prepare for 2025.