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.
Gross has also clashed with the Democratic Party establishment before. He was one of 100 Democratic City Committee members who signed a public letter in 2023 supporting Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O'Rourke, who went on to win Council at-large seats running on the Working Families Party ticket rather than as Democrats. The same report notes that his ward's endorsement of the pair helped prompt a warning from Bob Brady that committee members who backed candidates from another party could face expulsion.
Other Districts Could See Challengers Too
Gross's potential run is part of a broader pattern taking shape ahead of the 2027 Council elections, with candidates aligned with the city's left-leaning political organizations expected to emerge in several districts, per the same Inquirer account. In the 8th District, Seth Anderson-Oberman may again challenge Councilmember Cindy Bass, who intends to seek reelection; Anderson-Oberman lost to Bass by just 423 votes in 2023, according to Resolve Philadelphia. A second candidate, Jeff Jones, launched his own 8th District bid in late 2025 under the slogan “A New Vision, A New Voice,” the outlet reported.
In the 4th District, currently held by Curtis Jones Jr., who also intends to run for reelection, Celeste Trusty and Leigh Owens are among a handful of candidates weighing campaigns, the Inquirer reported.
A Super PAC Is Already Spending to Protect Incumbents
Any progressive wave will run into money. Philly For Growth, an independent-expenditure group that can raise and spend unlimited sums to influence elections but generally cannot coordinate directly with the candidates it backs, plans to spend $1.5 million before the May 2027 primary to support pro-business Democrats, according to Inquirer.com's separate reporting on the super PAC. The group intends to fund advertising for Squilla, Bass, and Councilmember Quetcy Lozada as they seek reelection.
There are currently four reliably progressive votes out of Council's 17 total members, the outlet reported. In 2023, Philly For Growth backed five candidates, and both incumbents it supported won while all three challengers lost — a track record the group will look to repeat as left-leaning organizations seek to grow their foothold on Council.
For now, Gross has not filed any paperwork to formalize his candidacy. Nomination petitions for Philadelphia municipal offices must ultimately be filed at the Philadelphia County Board of Elections at City Hall, Room 142, per the city's Board of Elections.
