Will Gross, the Democratic leader of South Philadelphia’s 2nd Ward and owner of OX Coffee in Queen Village, said he plans to run for Philadelphia City Council’s First District seat, setting up a possible clash with longtime incumbent Mark Squilla. Gross said he intends to run for the seat to fight for transformative policies that deliver for working-class Philadelphians.
The potential matchup was first reported by Inquirer.com, which noted that if Gross officially launches a campaign and Squilla runs for reelection, as he has said he intends to, the First District could become a key battleground in next year’s Council races. Squilla, who represents City Council’s First District according to his official Philadelphia City Council biography, has long been aligned with organized labor and much of the city’s Democratic establishment.
Gross was a prominent opponent of the Center City arena proposal that Squilla supported, a project that would have been located adjacent to Chinatown. Opposition to that plan included concerns that nearby Chinatown businesses and residents would be displaced, according to the same Inquirer reporting. Council ultimately approved legislation authorizing the project, but it was later scuttled after the 76ers instead partnered with Comcast on a different sports-complex plan in South Philadelphia’s stadium district.
A Candidate With a History of Bucking the Party Line
This wouldn’t be Gross’s first run for office. He ran in 2022 for an open Pennsylvania House seat covering parts of Center City, one of four Democratic candidates in that primary, and lost to now-State Rep. Ben Waxman, who represents the 182nd District…