WASHINGTON — Eleven-term Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pennsylvania, will not run for re-election, ending a long career in Philadelphia politics after being embroiled in scandal over an alleged payoff to a would-be challenger.
In October, two of Brady’s consultants — Donald Jones and Ken Smukler — were indicted in a probe of a $90,000 payment that Brady’s 2012 campaign made to challenger Jimmie Moore. The FBI’s probe ensnared Brady himself, though the congressman professed his innocence, even after Jones pleaded guilty last month to making false statements about the payoff.
Brady, who never faced a serious challenge in a seat gerrymandered to elect a Democrat, was already facing opposition on his left. Nina Ahmad, a Philadelphia deputy mayor and progressive activist, launched a primary challenge in November, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer that “we haven’t had a progressive voice here from this region” and that after decades of being represented by Brady, “people are ready for a change.”
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