Oh, That Philly Mayoral Race: A Postcript

A lot of our liberal, moderately conservative and  even far right friends are celebrating today. Yeah, they're all together on this one as they are elated over the defeat of the far left candidate, Helen Gym, in Philadelphia's  Democrat mayoral primary. 

The winner of that race is an African American single mom named Cherelle Parker (pictured) and her election as mayor is virtually assured as Dems outnumber Republicans in hopelessly blue Philadelphia by seven to one. OK, so Parker showed passion and grit during the campaign and she doesn't come across as wildly progressive as Gym who was backed by the likes of Crazy Bernie, AOC and Jane Fonda. But Parker was backed by the same union thugs that put the current mayoral disaster, Jim Kenney, into office. And Kenney's eight year reign has proved devastating. What's more, Kenney himself said he voted for Parker who also won the backing on many old line Philly Dem ward leaders -- the same corrupt crowd that has run the town into the ground.

So, is this really anything to celebrate? Really?

And consider this: In a city with more than one million registered voters Parker is virtually assured the mayor's post after having gained -- wait for it -- a total of 70,000 votes! Put another way, she was barely able to capture a third of the votes in the primary. And this was a primary with a very low voter turnout.

Yes, we wish the GOP had a fighting chance in Philly this November as its candidate for mayor, David Oh, is sensible, smart, dedicated and scrupulously honest. But Oh is such a long, long, LONG shot that you can bet Parker is already picking her cabinet.

Sadly, we see no real change on the horizon for Philly. The prognosis is a continuing slide downward.

Here's our final take on the Democrat candidates and why they fared the way they did in the order of their finish:

Cherelle Parker: She came off as authentic and daring in the debates while playing it safe with the Democrat rank and file, cobbling together just enough support to win. No big breakthroughs and no clear mandate, however.

Rebecca Rhynhart: Endorsed by three former mayors, she turned out to be a disappointment. As a candidate she came across as a technocrat who lacked retail appeal. By staying in the race she probably deprived Allan Domb of a win.

Helen Gym: Basically a socialist, she relied too much on outside money and her outside-the-city assistance was too obvious. Philly is a relentlessly provincial place (a small town hiding in a big city) and this, and her extreme views, rubbed people the wrong way. It's a Philly thing.

Allan Domb: Probably the best candidate of the whole field, he's a hugely successful businessperson with proven leadership skills. But why would the Democrats be enticed by anything like that? Anyway, Domb's slick, well-funded campaign never caught fire as he probably played it too safe. He was also hurt by Rhynhart (see above).

Jeff Brown: Another successful businessman but also a transplant who tried to pass himself off as a savior of the minority community until Michelle Obama called him on an ad that implied she endorsed him. Uh, no mess with Michelle! Brown's campaign simply imploded.

Amen Brown: Why was he even running? He garnered less than two percent of the total. He should have dropped out.

One final thought: Stop the celebrating. Philly's still a looney liberal town and Helen Gym is not going to go away. She's about to become the Stacey Abrams of Pennsylvania and her followers will never relent.