Marjorie Margolies to file for 13th District Congressional race

Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies plans to file Thursday to be a candidate in the 2014 Democratic primary election for the 13th District of the U.S. House, a source close to Margolies said this afternoon.

Margolies, a former television reporter who teaches at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, held that seat for one term, from 1993 to 1995.  Through a spokesman, she declined to comment today.

Word of her interest in the seat became public in early April, as U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz was gearing up to run in the 2014 Democratic primary election for governor.  That prompted former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel to drop his brief bid for the 13th District seat.

Saidel said his conversations with Margolies and Democratic leaders convinced him to get out of the race.  He also understood the powerful support Margolies will have from former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Margolies' son is married to the Clinton's daughter.

Other candidates filed in the Democratic primary include: State Rep. Brendan Boyle and state Rep. Mark Cohen of Philadelphia; state Sen. Daylin Leach of Montgomery County; and Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, a professor of clinical anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.