PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia has selected former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker to be the Democratic nominee in the race for mayor. The results from Tuesday night pave the way for the city's 100th mayor to be its first female leader.
Parker will face Republican David Oh, also formerly a City Council member, in the November general election. Oh ran unopposed in the primary. Voter registration in Philadelphia favors Democrats by a 7:1 margin.
🎧 David Oh vs. Cherelle Parker
Parker was unable to attend her own victory party. In lieu of a victory speech, her campaign delivered the following statement:
"Cherelle Parker is thrilled to have received the trust and confidence of so many Philadelphians. Unfortunately, Cherelle had a recent dental issue that required immediate medical attention this evening, and she is currently receiving care at the University of Pennslvania.
"Cherelle Looks forward to celebrating with all of her friends and supporters and thanks all of Philadelphia for making history tonight."
Parker, 50, had arguably the most legislative experience of the Democratic field, having represented the 200th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House for 10 years before successfully running for City Council. While in Harrisburg, with Democrats in the minority, she built a reputation as someone who could work across the aisle to advocate for the city. She specifically played a critical part in securing the votes for the Philadelphia cigarette tax, which aides city schools.
Parker made such experiences a touchstone of her campaign, arguing she had the best relationship skills to build strong “intergovernmental” coalitions to take on big problems.
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During her time as a legislator, Parker focused on helping people living on the economic margins, passing bills and establishing projects to help low-income homeowners, contract workers and parking attendants.
Yet, despite her economic policies, Parker has also favored practices that her progressive colleagues, such as Helen Gym, would reject. For instance, she pushed City Council to ban stop and frisk, but also argues there’s a constitutional way for police to ramp-up the practice in a way that would tamp down on gun violence. She also supports hiring as many as 300 additional patrol officers.
The Democratic candidates started to announce their campaigns to replace Mayor Jim Kenney in the fall, with many running on a platform critiquing his leadership. At its peak, nearly a dozen were in the running.
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As the race narrowed and some dropped out, independent polling showed Rebecca Rhynhart, Cherelle Parker, Helen Gym, Jeff Brown and Allan Domb as the frontrunners, without a sole clear leader emerging. KYW Newsradio hosted those five in a mayoral forum on May 4, where they shared their ideas to curb rampant gun violence and answer criticisms levied against them.
The significance of Parker's early lead
Throughout the day, reports from polling places consistently noted that voter turnout was low. However, the number of voters who came out on Tuesday looks to have surpassed the 2015 mayoral primary, which was the last openly contested mayoral race in the city.
Tuesday morning, one of those voters, Taylor Peebles from East Mount Airy, said she voted for Parker — “because she comes straight from the community and I feel like her campaign is really for us.”
🎧 Neil Oxman, Democratic political consultant
Parker took an early lead Tuesday. She, Rhynhart and Gym were far ahead of the male candidates most of the night.
And the win is historically significant, but it also matters that the second- and third-place candidates were also women, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
"It is always significant and important when we see these firsts, these breakthroughs. for women, particularly at the chief executive level, because that has, over time, been harder for women to break through," she said.
"Women seen as the place where the buck stops doesn't always come easily. Certainly we've never seen it at the national level for president. We finally have a woman who is the vice president, but not as president."
🎧 Debbie Walsh, Center for American Women and Politics
She said cities are ahead of the curve in that regard.
"There are only 12 women governors in the whole country. Mayors of big cities, though — we have been seeing some breakthroughs. And right now, a third 33% of the mayors of the top 100 cities are women," Walsh said.
Female voters are critical in this mayoral election, said Democratic political consultant Neil Oxman.
"In the city of Philadelphia, of all registered Democratic voters, 59% are female. When you ask this question in a poll, before you even know who's running, 'Do you want a man or a woman as mayor?' a woman wins by plus 10," Oxman said. "And it is about time that there's a woman mayor of Philadelphia."
Something else that makes this mayoral race unusual is that the winner didn't break away from the pack weeks ago, as has happened before. Parker broke away from the pack "literally today," he said.
"This is a business about making friends," he said. "The more friends you have, the more you can ask people to do things." And Parker, he said, has a lot of friends.
"And a lot of those people helped pay back her friendship: unions, other politicians, ward leaders. They they were with her today, and they were with her for a few weeks. And she built momentum. And off that, she broke out of the pack."
The opponents concede
Domb was the first candidate to concede at his headquarters in Center City. The real estate mogul thanked his supporters and congratulated the next mayor, pledging to help the winner of the general election improve what he called a city in crisis.
"We always knew it'd be a difficult race, but one that was worth running. Because Philadelphia is in crisis," he said in his concession speech. "And as someone who has built a successful business here in our city, created jobs, served in government, I thought I could bring to the city a unique perspective and provide the leadership the city of Philadelphia desperately needs."
🎧 Allan Domb
As the returns came in, Brown held steady in fifth place throughout the night. So, at around 11 p.m., the fourth-generation grocer-turned-political candidate conceded the race.
“I'm a first-time candidate, and we gave it a hell of a run,” he told a room full of supporters.
But just because he’s out of the running doesn’t mean he’s done with the race.
“We are tired of being 'a tale of two cities.' We want to fix this. Whoever is going to be the next mayor of the city ... the coalition we put together of all people of races, religions, we're going to be on them to make sure they make the changes we need.”
🎧 Jeff Brown
Rhynhart arrived at her watch party shortly after polls closed. As tallies began to roll in, she took an early lead, and supporters were upbeat. But then, as Cherelle Parker took the lead, and held it, Rhynhart supporters became more concerned.
Around 11:30 p.m., she took to the stage to concede.
"We will keep fighting for Philadelphia and what everyone here stands for, which is compassion and answers to the problems to move our city forward," she said.
Even after a third-place finish, Gym said her campaign was bigger than just an election for one leader. She said her fight was about values, including fully funded schools, and a safe city for everyone.
Gym thanked her volunteers, including those from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
“When billionaires made this the most expensive mayoral race in history, we left it all on the field," she said. "We knocked hundreds of thousands of doors in the biggest get-out-the-vote effort. And what we have built, what we have all done together, was unimaginable eight years ago.”
Gym said Philadelphia has a strong progressive bench that is ready to meet the moment in history.
Philadelphia City Councilmember at-large primaries
The Democratic and Republican primary races for Philadelphia City Council member at-large as currently as follows:
Three of five candidates have won the Democratic primary:
— Isaiah Thomas, incumbent
— Katherine Gilmore Richardson, incumbent
— Rue Landau, former head of the city’s Human Relations Commission
Other top Democratic contenders include:
— Nina Ahmad, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for Women
— Jim Harrity, incumbent
Four of five candidates have won the Republican primary:
— Drew Murray, president of Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Center City District board member, and chair of Philadelphia Crosstown Coalition
— Frank Cristinzio, formerly of the Philadelphia Parking Authority
— Gary Grisafi, small business owner, musician and music teacher
— Jim Hasher, president of Torresdale Boys Club, founder of AAU basketball program the Northeast Sting
Other top Republican contenders include:
— Mary Jane Kelly, retired Philadelphia court clerk, current premium service hostess for the Philadelphia Phillies
The top five in each primary will be on the general election ballot, vying for seven seats in all. Two of those seven must go to a minority party. Kendra Brooks will also be on the ballot as part of the Working Families Party.
The general election will be Nov. 7.