CITY LIMITS: Districts confuse, politicians gear up, as primary day nears

Not all University students will be voting for the same state representatives in the primary election Tuesday. Students who live in University City may live in one of four State General Assembly Districts and in one of two State Senate Districts, according to the State Bureau of Elections and Legislation. Students who live in High Rise North, for example, are in the 188th General Assembly District and the 8th State Senate District. But neighbors who live one block away in High Rise East or High Rise South are in the 190th Assembly District -- as are those who live on the 4000 block of Locust Street. These students, however, are in the 7th Senate District. It sounds confusing because it is. But a look at district maps makes the process of voting less intimidating. For starters, none of the Republican state seats are being contested in any of the University City primary districts, according to the Philadelphia County Board of Elections. And, Democratic races in the 190th and 195th Assembly Districts are not being contested either. However, there is a race for the Democratic nomination in the 7th Senate District. So, registered Democrats who live west of 40th Street will need to choose among three candidates. Incumbent Chaka Fattah is being challenged by Marlene Marshall and Faye White for the nomination, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Elections said Monday. Fattah, a Wharton graduate, failed in his bid for the U.S. House Representatives as an independent cadidate last fall. He was first elected to the State Assembly in 1982 and to the State Senate in 1988. Information about the challengers could not be obtained. There are also Democratic races in both the 186th and 188th Assembly Districts. The 186th, which includes Hill House, covers the southeast corner of University City. In the 186th, incumbent Harold James is being challenged by Joseph Baxter and Sam Jones for the nomination. James, a Philadelphia Police officer from 1965 to 1987, is running for his third term in the Assembly. Most recently, James co-sponsored legislation which calls for a comprehensive state health care policy. Over the past term, James introduced legislation which mandates at least a one-year sentence for anyone convicted of selling drugs within 1000 feet of public housing. The 188th -- which includes the Quadrangle, Stouffer College House, High Rise North, DuBois College House, Graduate Towers and King's Court-English House -- is defined by a choppy diagonal line which runs through the middle of campus. In the 188th, incumbent James Roebuck is being challenged by Roger Jackson, Ronald Pugh and Aaron Finney. Roebuck, who lives at 46th and Larchwood has served on several neighborhood boards and has fought for increased state funding for education, according to Sheryl George-Macalpine, Democratic leader for the 27th Ward. The former Drexel professor has worked toward providing battered woman's shelters and police-mini stations in West Philadelphia since his election to the Assembly in 1984. Democrats Vincent Hughes in the 190th and Frank Oliver in the 195th Assembly Districts are unopposed incumbents. Republicans F. Malana Pettite, George Forrest, Edward Howell and David Thomsen are running unopposed in the 186th, 188th, 190th and 195th Assembly Districts, respectively. Lawrence Watson is the only Republican candidate for State Senate in the 7th District. Winners of the Tuesday primary will be on the ballot for their respective parties in the November general election in which all 203 State Assembly seats will be up for re-election. Half of State Senate seats will be up for re-election.

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