PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Cherelle Parker did not just win the Philadelphia Democratic mayoral primary; she beat all expectations and won by 10 points. Even among Parker supporters, the margin of victory was a surprise.
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Mayor Jim Kenney was happy: “My candidate won, so I’m giddy.”
Kenney says Parker has many assets that explain her victory, but there is also this: “Black women especially wanted to see a Black woman as mayor, and I think they came out and showed that.”
Public affairs strategist Larry Ceisler said Parker also could talk tougher than the other candidates on public safety — voters’ No. 1 issue: “A Black woman has more credibility in being able to talk about issues in that way.”
Analysis: political expert Neil Oxman
Ceisler said, just as surprising as Parker’s margin of victory was an unexpectedly poor showing by Helen Gym, who led the last independent poll. He said, it seems Gym did not expand beyond her very ardent base, possibly because of a reasonable belief that she could win with them alone.
“She did not want to try to broaden her support by possibly taking the chance that she could offend her base voter,” he said.
Gym’s campaign manager did not return a call for comment.
Analysis: Maria Quiñones Sánchez
The race was a blow to progressives in the party, with Gym’s poor finish and their city council-at-large candidates were squeezed out. But City Councilmember Curtis Jones thinks Parker can win them over.
One secret of her victory, Jones said, is that Parker campaigned in areas beyond her natural constituency, like the more conservative Northeast.
“She spent a lot of time up there showing the commonality of ‘What people in West Oak Lane want is what people in the lower northeast want,’” Jones said.
Analysis: Debbie Walsh, Center for American Women and Politics
Even with her citywide appeal, turnout was so low, Parker won with only about 80,000 votes. Ceisler says that shows the need for ranked-choice voting, a kind of instant run-off in close and crowded races.
Ceisler also says the record spending by political action committees shows the need for a new campaign finance system.
“It just doesn’t work anymore. Unfortunately I think we’re going to have to go to a system where we don’t have limits but we have transparency."
Analysis: Derek Green
The day after the election, Parker was still nursing an abscessed tooth and unavailable, but Councilmember Jones channeled her message.
“Now it’s time to work together, to put the issues of the city before the politics,” he said, “And whether you voted for her or not, she is going to represent you.”
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