Special elections Tuesday to fill three House seats

After a low-level campaign this summer, special elections will be held Tuesday to fill three state House seats, each of which will be on the ballot again in 2016.

The August elections will choose state representatives for the 191st District, in parts of West and Southwest Philadelphia and a bit of Darby and Yeadon Boroughs; the 174th District in Northeast Philadelphia; and the 195th District, mainly in North Philadelphia.

Eight candidates are vying for the seats. The winners will inherit the final 14 months of two-year terms.

Two of the seats were vacated by Philadelphia politicians who admitted accepting cash or gifts from a lobbyist in a sting investigation abandoned by state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and revived by Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams.

In the 191st District, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 26-1 in Philadelphia and 10-1 on the Delaware County side, Joanna McClinton is running as the Democratic candidate. McClinton, 32, of West Philadelphia, most recently served as chief counsel for State Sen. Anthony H. Williams.

Republican Charles Wilkins Jr., 40, of Yeadon, and independent Tracey Gordon, 53, of Southwest Philadelphia, also are running.

The 195th District is another Democratic outpost - Democrats have a 13-1 registration edge over Republicans. Democrat Donna Bullock, 36, a former aide to City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, is seeking the seat.

Adam Lang, 37, a computer network engineer, is running as a Republican and challenging an ambitious Philadelphia Housing Authority redevelopment of the Sharswood neighborhood, with which Bullock was involved.

Judith Robinson, 58, a real estate broker and community activist from North Philadelphia, is running a write-in campaign.

The 174th has a smaller Democratic majority. Ed Neilson, 51, a veteran of three special elections in four years, is running as a Democrat after he lost his reelection bid for a City Council at-large seat in May.

His Republican opponent is Tim Dailey, 43, a history teacher at Father Judge High School.

Polls in the three districts will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For polling-place locations, call the Philadelphia Voter Registration Office at 215-686-1590.