Nikil Saval, a political organizer and Democratic leader of South Philly’s 2nd Ward, announced Sunday plans to unseat state Sen. Larry Farnese (D-1st dist.) in the April primary. The announcement was made at Hawthorne Park, 12th and Catharine streets. Saval has worked extensively with left-wing organization Reclaim Philadelphia, a political organization he co-founded that helped elect state Reps. Elizabeth Fiedler and Joe Hohenstein and District Attorney Larry Krasner. According to the group’s website, Saval is part of its steering committee.
“The status quo is not working for us and our neighbors in the district, and we are not satisfied with a leadership in the Pennsylvania legislature that refuses to take seriously the gravity of toxic schools, runaway development, corporate greed,” said Saval. “We could have, if we mobilized, organized and fought, fully funded schools, new affordable homes, renewable energy, vibrant mass transit, universal family care and family-sustaining jobs.”
The 1st Senatorial District incorporates most of South Philly, all of Center City and parts of Southwest Philly and the River Wards.
At the campaign kickoff, Saval hinted that he’d run a progressive campaign focused on the issues of working-class people.
“This is a campaign whose heart and soul, whose deepest roots lie with working-class people fighting for dignity and respect on the job,” he said. “State money has been funneled by legislators to remediate lead and asbestos for nonunion luxury hotels, and somehow we cannot find the money to do the same in our schools.”
Savel said he’d work to propose “the most ambitious Green New Deal policy seen in any state.”
If elected to the state Senate, Saval would be the first South Asian elected to state government in Pennsylvania.
In addition to his life in politics, Saval is a regular contributor to the New York Times, where he writes about design. He also contributes to the New Yorker and authored a book entitled Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace.
Saval was a local leader in Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
