Philadelphia has elected a woman to the mayor’s office after 99 men.
“I don’t know if in my life I thought that I would see a female mayor,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, former commissioner of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation under Jim Kenney. Lovell is now the president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center.
“It’s really exciting to me that number 100 will be a woman, as a mom of two daughters and a lifelong Philadelphian,” she said. “We’ve tried the other way, and I think going this route is going to be a tremendous game-changer for the city.”
Cherelle Parker, a Democrat and former City Council and state assembly member, comfortably defeated Republican David Oh in the election. The race was called roughly 35 minutes after the polls closed on Tuesday evening.
Former Mayor Michael Nutter stated that it had been a long time coming
“In Philly, it takes us a while to get ourselves together, but eventually we do get it right,” he said. “Way overdue, but excited that Philadelphia will join the ranks of great American cities that have a woman leading their city.”
Nutter believes that each mayor contributes a unique set of life experiences to the role, and he expects Parker to do the same.
Parker stated during her winning speech that her success was due, in part, by maintaining her authenticity and “turning her pain into power.”
“People were yearning for authenticity. They were yearning to hear somebody speak to them like a regular person,” she told the crowd. “They were yearning to do what we learned in the Baptist Church. You all will remember it Sometimes, when the preacher is speaking, you’ll hear somebody in the congregation say: ‘Make it plain!’”
Parker was born to a single mother who died when she was 11 years old, and she was raised by her grandmother, who received food stamps. Parker initially gained national recognition when she won a speech contest at the age of 17 and toured churches and recreation centers throughout the city recalling her poor beginnings.
Marian Tasco, a longstanding council member, spotted her aptitude and hired her as a teen intern.
“It seems fitting that the first woman to be elected mayor of Philadelphia would be a woman supported, mentored, and shaped in her youth by two African-American women who themselves broke the political glass ceiling: [former councilperson] Gussie Clark and Marian Tasco,” said Republican political commentator Farah Jimenez.
Jimenez called Parker’s win “historic”
“It would be a shame if our assessment focused solely on gender,” Jimenez said in an email. “Cherelle’s personal story of struggle and ascendance, talent met with hard work, parenting of a young African American male, and sheer perseverance against the odds is what will most inform her tenure as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor.”
Wilson Goode, the city’s first Black mayor from 1984 to 1992, said Parker is the ideal person for the post because the key concerns facing the new mayor are public safety, poverty, and education.
“Because of her background,” he said. “She’s lived it. She knows about it and she knows how to go about dealing with it.”
Donna Cooper, a former deputy mayor in Ed Rendell’s administration, said the new mayor needs to “clean house.”
“I used that word purposely because usually that is the job of women,” said Cooper, who now runs Children First, a youth policy advocacy organization.
“I’m very hopeful that the next mayor will take care of the house of the city: figure out why people aren’t applying for our jobs and encourage them to do so; figure out why vendors aren’t bidding and changing the conditions; [and] make sure people have the resources from the city to do their job,” she said. “There’s been a lot of atrophy in the management of the house.”
Donielle Martin arrived at Cherelle Parker’s victory party in South Philadelphia just after the polls closed Tuesday evening. She stated that she is “psyched” for the incoming mayor.
“The centennial mayor to be a woman that looks like me? It just makes me feel like I can do whatever I want!” she said. “I could accomplish so much stuff. It’s just really inspiring.”