In early returns, Republican challenger Joe Picozzi appears to have unseated Sen. Jimmy Dillon (D-Philadelphia) at 52 to 48 percent with all but 10 precincts reporting.
Picozzi grew up in Somerton and is an Eagle Scout who Councilman Brian O’Neill appointed to serve on the Philadelphia Youth Commission. He had worked for the Manhattan Institute, a think tank. After graduating from Holy Ghost prep, he studied government at Georgetown University and worked for the U.S. House of Representatives in public policy.
Dillon, who faced some embarrassing scandals, was placed on the ballot by Democratic Party insiders only when his better-known brother failed to meet the ethics requirements to run for the seat.
Dillon who owns a chain of basketball gyms faced tweets surfacing that included the “N” word. He disavowed those tweets, attributing them to others who had access to that social media account.
He also had an old arrest warrant surface from New Jersey for failure to pay fines for traffic offenses and failure to appear in court.
Dillon became a state senator in 2022. He won a special election after the sitting Democratic senator was appointed to the bench. Dillon’s brother, Shawn, was going to fill the vacancy but was bumped from the ballot after he failed to file documents required under the state’s ethics laws. Party insiders then chose Dillon to replace his brother.
Dillon played basketball for Notre Dame and runs Hoops 24-7 Basketball Academy, a chain of 27 gyms.
