The only Democratic challenger to State Rep. Brian Sims has dropped out, leaving the incumbent in an uncontested primary race.
Louis D. Lanni Jr., a former Philadelphia police officer, had filed the paperwork to be a primary challenger to incumbent Sims to represent the 182nd District, which encompasses much of Center City and the Gayborhood. Earlier this month, according to Pennsylvania’s Voter Services website, Lanni cited simply “candidate withdrew” in the filing.
Lanni did not reply to repeated requests for comment. Emails bounced back and his GoFundMe page is closed. His social media accounts have been defunct since 2014.
Sims continues to fundraise, sending out an email request March 28 reading in part: “We’ve got just three days left to meet our grassroots fundraising goal of $8,000 for March.” It was not immediately clear how much Sims has raised of that $8,000 goal this month.
Lanni, who is openly gay and a Philadelphia native, ran against Sims for state representative in 2016 and in 2011 as a Republican in the First District. Last year, Gov. Wolf pardoned Lanni’s previous conviction for fraud, which forced him to leave the race in 2011. Lanni said his key issues include passing hate-crime legislation, improving public safety and ending gridlock in Harrisburg.
Lanni told the Philadelphia Gay News in 2016, “We are very poorly led in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. And we can do a whole lot better.”