Phila. state lawmaker Street weighs run for U.S. Senate
HARRISBURG — Sharif Street, a Democratic state senator from Philadelphia and the vice chair of the state Democratic Party, said he is considering running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat in next year’s election.
Mr. Street, 46, was just elected to his second term in the state Senate last year. He will start an exploratory committee of more than 100 people next month to start the formal process, he said.
Mr. Street, who has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and spent almost two decades as a lawyer, is the son of former Philadelphia Mayor John Street.
He has spent the past couple of years campaigning around Pennsylvania for Democratic candidates as thestate party’s No. 2 official.
“We had a 67-county strategy and we needed that in order to elect Joe Biden and we needed that to elect [U.S. Sen.] Bob Casey and we needed that to elect [Gov.] Tom Wolf,” Mr. Street said. “And I think we’re going to bring a 67county strategy in 2022.”
The race is wide-open for bothparties in what could become the nation’s most competitive Senate contest next year after Republican Sen. Pat Toomey announced in October that he would not runfor a third term.
Already declared on the Democratic side are Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia.
On the Republican side, Jeff Bartos, the GOP’s unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018, has filed paperwork to run, as have more than a half-dozen other candidates from both major parties.