Controversial former Philly-area councilwoman running for state representative

“Violence has no place in politics,” State Representative Heather Boyd (D-Clifton Heights) wrote on July 14 last year. “Earlier today, a social media post made by a former member of my staff was brought to my attention. This matter has been dealt with swiftly. Please join me in praying for our former president [Donald Trump], the loved ones of Corey Comperatore, for David Dutch & James Copenhaver — and for all those impacted.”

“This matter” Boyd “dealt with,” was a Facebook post that read “A for Effort.” Its author, Jess Branas, a councilwoman in the Delaware County township of Upper Darby, provided no context in the post’s initial text. But it appeared online one hour and nineteen minutes after Thomas Crooks grazed Trump’s ear with a bullet while attempting to shoot him dead at a rally in Butler. 

Shortly thereafter, she posted a photograph of food she had barbecued with friends. She later insisted the dashed “effort” referred to two New York strip steaks she had burnt at the dinner. Boyd, on whose staff Branas then worked, apparently didn’t buy the story and soon fired her. Branas characterized her former boss’s action as rushed and “unfair.” 

“I wish I could appeal,” she said. “But the politicians are looking out for their elections. They have a PR problem, they just get rid of it. But it’s too bad. I really loved my job.”

Boyd, who did not reply to an email asking for comment, still represents east-central Delaware County in the state General Assembly. Twelve days ago, Branas took a major early step toward serving alongside the lawmaker who let her go. 

Having resigned from council just two months ago and moved back to Lancaster, where she was born, the ex-councilwoman registered a new campaign committee for state representative in a district comprising Conestoga, East Lampeter, West Lampeter, Manheim, Manor, and Pequea townships. Representative Steven Mentzer (R) presently holds the seat and faces reelection next year if he opts to pursue it.

And he holds the seat rather tightly. The thirteen-year incumbent bested Democratic challenger Bob Rudy by a 23.6-percent margin last year. Yet Republicans enjoyed a red wave in 2024, certainly not something pundits anticipate next year, and Democrats may whiff a pickup opportunity in a district held by an ardent conservative like Mentzer. (He was one of only two Republican legislators to vote against Act 77, which effected no-excuse mail-in voting, plus other election reforms, in the Keystone State.)

But just as firmly as Mentzer sits on the right, Branas has positioned herself well to the left of the center and even farther to the left of the 97th Legislative District. She voted to enact massive tax increases in Upper Darby and has been a “passionate activist for the LGBTQ+ community as a former radio personality and podcaster.” After getting elected councilwoman in 2023, she became integral to the body’s liberal majority and adversarial toward the township’s few moderate Democratic officials. 

Despite her denials that she praised Crooks for his endeavor to kill Trump, she joked in the past about wishing physical danger on the president and supposing his incapacitation would help America. On December 23, 2021, on her Drinks with Jess podcast, she told journalist Nathan James that while she believed in full Covid vaccination and boosting, she halfway hoped the then-former president would avoid the booster given his ambitions to return to the White House.

“I kinda hate to say this: I kinda wish he didn’t get his booster shot,” she said with a hearty laugh. “I know it’s bad for me to say, like, I shouldn’t wish ill will on anybody and I don’t. But it would save us a lot of trouble.” 

Branas, who worked in code enforcement in eastern Delaware County’s Collingdale Borough after Boyd dismissed her, embodies other contradictions too. A sometime media figure who exalts free expression, she voted as a councilwoman to curtail the speaking rights of Upper Darby residents and legislators at public meetings. When a motion was made to allow residents to continue speaking on tax policy after orations had been closed, she opposed it. She also voted against permitting local activist Rich Blye to address the council on such issues as crime prevention and homelessness, despite township law recognizing “concerned persons”’ rights to make remarks at public forums irrespective of residency. 

“That right there proved her stance for free speech was a complete and total fraud,” Upper Darby Republican Committeeman John DeMasi said of her vote against extending public forum time. 

Branas also voted to saddle Upper Darby residents — many of them low-income — with a one-percent earned income tax, despite not always paying municipal levies on time herself. The township filed a lien against her in September 2023 for nonpayment of $1,126.30 in trash fees the year before. She satisfied the lien in August 2024. 

“I think it just shows what her values are,” DeMasi said. “She eventually did satisfy the lien, but then, after she has hard times, she imposes $18 million of taxes on the residents and just after she took millions of dollars of federal funds away from the children, seniors, police, fire, and businesses.” 

He was referring to Branas’s support for transferring millions of dollars in federal Covid-era aid away from numerous programs into special accounts, ostensibly to protect the money from a possible federal clawback. Opponents of the move, like DeMasi, sought to ensure the money didn’t get spent on unrelated items. Most contentiously, Branas and a majority of councilpersons sought to shift funds that were originally put toward a children’s art center, though DeMasi sued and beat them in court.

The committeeman held nothing back in describing his former fellow Delaware Countian’s political attitude.

“She’s an opportunist,” he said of the Manheim Township High School graduate who worked for Democratic State Representative Mike Zabel before Boyd was elected in a special election to replace him in May 2023. “She will say what she needs to say at the time to be politically palatable.”

He furthermore doesn’t believe that her infamous “A for effort” comment was self-deprecation about bad cooking.

“Is it possible? Yes,” he said. “But based on how I’ve seen her try to explain away her actions that are called into question, I doubt it.” 

Mentzer hasn’t prominently discussed seeking reelection next year and neither his campaign nor the Republican Committee of Lancaster County returned phone messages seeking comment. After working as a missionary and financial consultant, he first won election to the General Assembly in 2012 and has since worked for property tax reform, school choice, and construction permitting changes.

Branas also didn’t respond to a request for comment on Friday. Lancaster County Democratic Party Chair Tom O’Brien told The Independence that some Democrats have dialogued with his committee about a potential run for Mentzer’s seat, despite none making announcements yet. He declined to comment about any of them, including Branas, at this early stage. 

O’Brien, who used to live in the 97th District before it was remapped in 2022, described Mentzer as disengaged from his constituency and deemed the district more winnable than it may seem.

“I don’t know what his record is that he can actually run on,” O’Brien said. 

He suggested any Mentzer opponent could be especially well-poised next year, given the Republicans’ current national, state, and regional losing streak. He noted that his party pulled off an upset earlier this year when Democrat James Malone defeated Republican County Commissioner Josh Parsons in a special election for Republican former State Senator Ryan Aument’s crimson-red State Senate district. 

“I’m not naive enough not to know that it would be an uphill battle for anybody to run against him; it is,” O’Brien said. “But it’s not an impossible hill to run.” 

Democrats, he said, are gaining traction on the national economy, particularly in light of Trump’s treatment of affordability concerns. Recently, the president called the issue a “hoax” and a “con job,” pointing to his predecessor Joe Biden as responsible for worsening inflation. 

O’Brien said his party’s candidate vetting process will culminate in an endorsement on February 25, 2026. Primaries to nominate the respective parties’ candidates will happen on May 19.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to note when Branas resigned from Upper Darby Borough Council.

Bradley Vasoli is the senior editor of The Independence.