PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphians are casting their votes to decide who will be the city’s next mayor — and among them are the candidates themselves.
Polls opened Tuesday morning, where Democrat Cherelle Parker and Republican David Oh cast their votes. Parker voted at the Masjidullah mosque in West Oak Lane alongside family, friends and supporters, including her high school teacher, Janette Jimenez.
“Anyone who’s watching today, you need to know I don’t arrive here by myself,” Parker said. “I didn’t pull myself by my bootstraps. There was a community and a village of people who lifted me up.”
After she voted, she made it clear that the work was just beginning.
“I want you all to know that this is not a celebration right now,” she said. “We have to work until 8:01 p.m. today, when the polls close, to do what I’ve learned to do all of my life, and that is to earn the support of voters across the city of Philadelphia.”
Parker has numbers on her site in terms of voter registration. The Democratic advantage in Philadelphia is 7-1.
Her opponent has a hill to climb, but Oh believes those who want change will vote for him.
“I think the biggest difference is that I have a history of battling the political parties and trying to deal with the wrongs of government,” he said outside W.C. Longstreth Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia — the same school he attended growing up.
He reiterated his campaign message that a vote for him would be a vote for change, while his opponent, he said, offers more of the same.
“[Parker] is pretty much a product of the political system, the political establishment,” said Oh. “If it were up to me, if I were elected mayor, I would start cleaning house because I find that the collision and the corruption and the failure of our government is the most damaging thing to our city.”
If elected, both candidates would hold firsts: Parker would be the first woman elected Philadelphia’s mayor, and Oh would be the city’s first Asian American mayor. Oh would also be the first Republican mayor to serve in Philadelphia since the 1950s.
Both candidates will be making final campaign stops in different parts of the city for the rest of Election Day. Polls close at 8 p.m.