Philadelphia Democrats on Tuesday selected Cherelle Parker to be their party’s mayoral candidate, the Associated Press said.
Parker will be favored to win the general election in November when she faces Republican Richard Oh.
The winner will be the city’s 100th mayor. Philadelphia is heavily Democratic and has not elected a Republican mayor since the 1950s.
With nearly 66% of the enclosures reportsCherelle Parker led with 32.89% of the vote, with Rebecca Rhynhart a distant second with 22.33%.
“I am very honored to have won the Democratic nomination tonight,” Parker said. said in a statement on social networks. “It’s been a long road, and to see the tireless work of my campaign team, my supporters and my family pay off is humbling.”
Matt Rourke / AP
Democrats also retained their majority in the Pennsylvania state House on Tuesday, according to the AP, thanks to a Democratic victory in a closely watched special election.
Philadelphia mayoral polls ahead of primary day
Recent polls had shown that five Democrats — Parker, Rhynhart, Helen Gym, Allan Domb and Jeff Brown — had a shot at winning, including the three women who could become the city’s first female mayor. In April, the non-partisan non-profit organization Committee of SeventyThe survey found all five statistically tied.
In accordance with CBS Philadelphia, polls suggested as many as 1 in 5 Democratic voters were still undecided. The five main candidates had campaigned hard before primary day.
Philadelphia and the National Democrats
Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth largest city by population, is a crucial city for Democrats nationally in the state of Pennsylvania. President Biden won Pennsylvania by about 80,000 voteswith the majority coming from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs.
Matt Rourke / AP
“It’s one of the few states that was very close in the 2020 election, and I think for Pennsylvania Democrats, the big issue for the mayor is not just running the city, but encouraging participation, making them exit polls in the presidential race,” said William Drexel, a political science professor at Drexel University.
National Democrats have been watching the state: Mr. Biden endorsed Heather Boyd, a candidate in a special General Assembly race that also took place on Tuesday. According to the AP, Boyd won her race, defeating Republican Katie Ford and helping Democrats maintain their narrow majority in the state House.
Democrats had taken control of the Assembly in November for the first time since 2010, but state Rep. Mike Zabe resigned in March after being accused of sexual harassment. While Zabe’s former district is in the increasingly blue suburbs of Philadelphia, Democrats aren’t taking any chances on Boyd’s run, having raised more than $1 million since April.
Republicans hold the majority in the state Senate.
The most expensive Philadelphia mayoral race in history
The mayor’s race in Philadelphia was the most expensive in the city’s history, according to The Philadelphia Inquirerwith two candidates — Derek Green and Maria Quiñones Sánchez — dropping out because the price of the race was too high.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, more than $14 million of the $24 million being spent came from two wealthy candidates who were funding their races. Domb, a real estate developer, has poured $10.2 million into his race, and Brown, who owns a chain of Philadelphia grocery stores, has contributed $3 million to his campaign.
Two other favorites, Gym and Rhynhart, had raised about $2 million each. Parker had raised $1.7 million.
Problems in the mayoral race
The issue that has dominated the race has been crime, although all the candidates generally agree on how to fight it. Poverty and quality of life have also been important issues.
“You have this real dissatisfaction, more so than I think is normal,” said Richardson Dilworth, head of Drexel’s political science department and author of “Reforming Philadelphia 1682-2022.” He said of Mayor Jim Kenney: “Fairly or unfairly, the current mayor has just been pilloried for not doing much — hiding and things like that.”
Dilworth said there is a need among voters to feel like “someone is home, in some ways.”
The candidates for mayor
Parker, a former member of the Philadelphia City Council, had been endorsed by many of the neighborhood leaders and other local political leaders. And Mayor Kenney also said he voted for Parker. She was the only black candidate left in the race, and 44% of the city’s population is black. Parker had won the support of many of the leaders of the black community.
Gimnàs, former teacher, community organizer and member of the City Council, was the progressive of the race. And she got a boost from two of the country’s best-known progressives last week when Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for her.
Rhynhart, meanwhile, had been endorsed by leading Democratic figures, including former mayors Ed Rendell and Michael Nutter, as well as the Philadelphia Inquirer. Rhynhart is the former controller of Philadelphia and has tried to differentiate herself in politics.
Although all three women had collected union endorsements, Brown won the coveted endorsement of the city’s largest municipal union.
Because the May primary falls in a non-election year, turnout was expected to be low. The candidates had tried to increase their support at the polls. Sanders, in his speech on Sundayhe told voters “I have no doubt that Helen is the next mayor of Philadelphia,” if everyone in the crowd votes and brings a few friends or family members to the polls.
