Ward leaders in Philadelphia play an important role in party governance. Ward leaders vote on endorsements at the city-wide level. There are 66 wards, but because three wards are split, there are 69 ward leaders. In ward 55, our ward leader is Bob Dellavella. You can read a little about him here.
Ward leaders are elected every four years by the committee people in their ward, a few weeks after the primary to elect committee people takes place. After the ward leaders are elected, they get together and vote for the county chair of the party. The current chair is Bob Brady. You can read about him here.
Ward leaders get together every election cycle and decide who the party should endorse at the city-level for various positions. This makes them rather important. It also means that they hear from a lot of candidates in the run-up to election day by mail, phone, and in-person visits.
The Democratic Party often tasks ward leaders with recruiting new candidates for office, and finding people to work to support those candidates. This can include volunteers for things like canvassing, or working the polls outside of a polling place on election day.
Ward leaders often assist the City Commissioners office with setting up the mechanics of elections. Each division in Philadelphia has a polling place on primary or election day, and there are usually four election board workers at the table per division, plus one or more machine inspectors (a minimum of five people per division.) Because there are 1,703 divisions, the city must recruit (at minimum) 8,515 election board workers across the city each cycle.
Finally, ward leaders dole out patronage jobs when such positions are available.
Ward leaders can be pretty busy!