Chris Rabb tells Penn to be a better neighbor to West Philadelphia

State Rep. Chris Rabb is poised to take his seat in the United States House of Representatives next year, but before he heads to Washington, he is delivering a pointed message to the University of Pennsylvania: the university must do more to integrate its students into West Philadelphia and reckon with the neighborhood’s long history of disinvestment. In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Rabb, who will represent Penn and University City in one of the nation’s bluest congressional districts, said the institution has an obligation to bridge the gap between campus and the surrounding community by becoming what he called “a better neighbor.”

Rabb, who earned a master’s degree in organizational dynamics from Penn in 2006 and is therefore speaking both as a legislator and as an alumnus, faces no Republican challenger, giving him a virtually unobstructed path to Congress for the next two years. Yet his victory was built on a specific demographic surge: young voters, particularly Penn students, turned out in force to deliver his primary win and secure his general election position.

Student Voters Delivered a 20-Point Margin at Campus Polls

The electoral math reveals just how crucial campus support proved to be. In the spring primary election, Rabb captured 63.9% of the vote at Penn’s on-campus polling locations, a figure nearly 20 percentage points above his district-wide average. That gap suggests student voters did not merely participate; they participated at rates and margins that fundamentally shaped the outcome. “There’s this trope that young voters can’t be trusted, that they won’t come out,” Rabb said. “If you meet people where they are, in good faith, and you have a platform that resonates with them, they’ll show up. My campaign benefited disproportionately from young voters, including students.”

“Penn students, I know, are engaged because they’ve shown up in my campaign,” he said.

Gentrification, Disinvestment, and the Call to Atone

Students, he said, need to be made aware of this history and genuinely integrated into the community rather than isolated from it by campus boundaries.

“They need to atone for their sins of gentrification and alienation, and find ways to connect students with the communities that they should be a part of,” Rabb said.

“We cannot submit to a fascist regime,” he said. “What’s the point of having fk you money if you can’t say fk you to fascism?”

Medicare for All and the Promise of Co-Governance

Among Rabb’s central legislative priorities is establishing Medicare for All, a policy he says would allow educational and medical institutions like those at Penn to benefit from university health care policies.

As Rabb prepares to leave Philadelphia for Capitol Hill, he is urging Penn to be “a better neighbor” to West Philadelphia by integrating students with surrounding communities and atoning for gentrification.