Progressive Chris Rabb Wins Pa. Primary, Declares ‘We Are Indomitable’

Progressive state Representative Chris Rabb declared his campaign “indomitable” after winning the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, a race that became a proxy battle over the direction of the Democratic Party.

Rabb captured roughly 45% of the vote in Tuesday’s contest, comfortably ahead of early front-runner state Senator Sharif Street, who fell to under 30%, and surgeon Ala Stanford, in a significant victory for the party’s left wing.

“I have been critiqued along this campaign for being too radical, being too bold,” Rabb told supporters at an emotional victory speech, powered by a grassroots campaign backed by the Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Framing his win as a populist breakthrough, Rabb called the result “a triumph of the many over the money” before issuing a warning to those who might seek to undermine the movement his campaign had built. “They’re going to try and tear us apart. We’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “We are indomitable.”

The district, which includes most of Philadelphia’s urban core, is the bluest in the United States: Kamala Harris won 88% of its votes in the 2024 presidential election, even as the rest of the country re-elected Donald Trump.

Some Democratic operatives saw the primary as a key test of whether the “Mamdani moment” – when Zohran Mamdani reshaped New York’s mayoral race last year, inspiring progressives across the U.S. – could be replicated elsewhere.

Rabb, endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Justice Democrats and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is now on an almost certain path to Congress.

He will succeed Democratic Representative Dwight Evans, who endorsed Stanford and is retiring after a decade in office.

Rabb ran on a platform of universal healthcare, a universal basic income, publicly owned grocery stores and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. He has called the war in Gaza a genocide and describes Israel as an apartheid state.

Conceding to supporters at a north Philadelphia union hall, Street acknowledged the scale of the progressive mobilization that had undone his campaign. “This is a wake-up call,” he said, describing the movement behind Rabb as one determined to “reclaim their party.”

Justice Democrats framed the result as evidence that voters are demanding representatives willing to challenge corporate influence and party orthodoxy. The group said that deep-pocketed donors – reportedly linked to the pro-Israel lobbying network AIPAC through a shell fund – had backed Stanford, without success.

“Chris Rabb is exactly what Democratic voters nationwide are demanding – progressive trailblazers who fight for their communities, not just when it’s politically convenient but when it’s morally necessary,” Justice Democrats Executive Director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement. “While the party machine has spent decades failing to meet the needs of its voters, Rabb has taken the fight to corporate interests, billionaire CEOs, and Republican extremists his whole career.”