Philly GOP considering ward chairman for run against Fattah

PHILADELPHIA - Almost two months after the Republican candidate challenging U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah dropped out of the race, the city GOP here is considering a young ward chairman from North Philadelphia to run against the longtime incumbent Democrat.

Adam Lang, who chairs the city's 29th ward in the Brewerytown and Sharswood neighborhoods, is one of the people being considered to replace Michael Livingston on the ballot, party Chairman Vito Canuso confirmed Thursday. He would not identify other people under consideration. A decision is expected sometime in August, Canuso said.

"There are other people, but no one has authorized me to let that be revealed," he said. "Fortunately, we have a couple of people that are interested, and we're going to select the best qualified."

Lang would be a markedly different candidate than Livingston, in more ways than one. Most of Fattah's 2nd Congressional District is in Philadelphia, but Livingston, a 52-year-old tenured law professor at Rutgers School of Law in Camdem, lives in Cheltenham. Lang, by contrast, is a 30-year-old network engineer who is tied into both younger and older Republican circles in the city.

Still, he would likely face just as difficult a race against Fattah as Livingston, running in an overwhelmingly Democratic district where Fattah has never been seriously challenged during his 18 years in the seat.

"I think he would make a superb candidate," Livingston told PolitickerPa.com. "He's young, he's in the city, and I think he's very plugged into groups that the Republican Party needs to connect to."

Lang said he had been approached by several people about running, which led him to express his interest to the party.

"I think it's a good opportunity to bring forth many issues that the Philadelphia Democratic Party has been ignoring, especially in the 2nd Congressional District," he said.

He seemed to acknowledge the difficulty of running against Fattah, who, like other city Democrats, still raises tens of thousands of dollars even without a viable candidate running against him.

"I would predominantly use it as a platform to put forth better policies," he said, adding that "a lot of people in this district are in a habit of just voting straight party."

Whether he could count on more support from local or national party groups is also an open question. Livingston had harsh words for both when he ceased his own bid for Congress.

"From the beginning of my candidacy, it has been clear that, as a moderate Republican in a primarily urban district, the state, local, and national parties had little interest in my success," he said in early June.

"Despite investing a substantial amount of my own time, energy, and money in the race - and despite raising a larger amount than any recent Republican in the district - I was unable to garner meaningful support from the Party and, as a result, unable to be taken seriously by the media and other opinion-makers. If the Republican Party wishes to be competitive in Pennsylvania and the Northeast, it must take more moderate positions and make a more serious commitment to its candidates and their success."