The Philadelphia Citizen

Former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker won the Democratic primary on May 16, all but guaranteeing she will become the 100th mayor of Philadelphia, following Jim Kenney’s eight-year tenure.

Parker will be the first woman to lead the city, after defeating two other women in a close race: former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart and former City Councilmember Helen Gym. She will face Republican former City Councilmember David Oh in the general election on November 7.

As a two-term Councilmember, Parker represented the city’s 9th District, which consists of the Northwest and Northeast neighborhoods of Mount Airy (where Parker and her family reside), West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Olney, Lawncrest, Lawndale, Burholme and Oxford Circle. She was City Council’s majority leader.

At age 17, Parker began a 15-year stint working for Philadelphia City Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco. She later became the youngest African American woman elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where she served 10 years.

In 2011, prior to serving on Council, Parker was arrested for driving drunk and the wrong way in her state-issued car on a one-way Haines Street in Germantown. She later testified that she was never on Haines Street and disputed the officers’ account of the event. In 2013, she was convicted of the DUI and spent three days in jail.

As a member of Council, Parker served as chair of the Labor and Civil Service Committee and vice chair of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. She is the first woman to chair the board of the Delaware River Port Authority.

Parker has described her mission in government as “closing the gap between the haves and the have nots.” She says her priorities as mayor would be safety, jobs, and city services. After resigning from her post on Council, she registered as a lobbyist in Harrisburg.

During her campaign, Parker promised to hire 300 more police officers, including community officers, and restore stop-and-frisk. She also put forth the idea of making school year-round, and, like the other candidates, vowed to support small businesses along neighborhood corridors and increase affordable housing.

Contents

• 1 Here’s more about Cherelle Parker’s time in City Hall
• 2 About Cherelle Parker, the person
• 3 Endorsements for Cherelle Parker
• 4 Cherelle Parker in Citizen coverage
• 5 Videos featuring Cherelle Parker
• 6 More ways to learn about Cherelle Parker

Here’s more about Cherelle Parker’s time in City Hall

1. SHE PARTNERED WITH COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA to establish the small business training program, Power Up Your Business.
2. SHE IS A FORMER EDUCATOR WHO SUPPORTS public school workforce development programs, the addition of nontraditional teachers and year-long school. She believes solid education will reduce crime.
3. PARKER HAS CHAMPIONED HOME FIXES TO HELP STABILIZE NEIGHBORHOODS. She and Council President Darrell Clarke developed Restore, Repair, Renew to help homeowners access low-interest home improvement loans. She is also credited with increasing the Realty Transfer Tax by .1 percent in order to borrow $100 in bonds to eliminate backlog within income-based home repair programs.
4. SHE SOUGHT TO PROTECT NEIGHBORHOODS FROM EFFECTS OF DEVELOPMENT by creating a bill that requires them to complete a Project Information Form to let neighbors know about the environmental and other impacts of their proposed projects in communities.
5. SHE CHAMPIONED THE NEIGHBORHOOD SAFTEY AND COMMUNITY POLICING PLAN, which calls for adding 300 beat and bike police officers to the force, tackling quality of life issues, and increasing community engagement. She also backed up Council President Clarke’s call to reinstate stop-and-frisk, legally.
6. SHE CALLED OUT KENNEY DIRECTLY AFTER HIS JULY 4 COMMENTS about being tired of gun violence. Later, she publicly recounted telling him that, “If you can feel this way, imagine how Philadelphians who don’t have the ability to check out feel on a daily basis.” She also referred to Kenney’s statement as “asinine.”
7. SHE HAS BEEN VOCAL ABOUT THE SODA TAX‘S disproportionate impact on communities of color.

About Cherelle Parker, the person

1. SHE GREW UP IN WEST OAK LANE. Her mom died when Parker was 11, and her grandparents raised her.
2. SHE WAS A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IN THE PARKWAY PROGRAM in Center City when she met Marian Tasco.
3. SHE WENT TO TO BECOME Tasco’s intern — and unofficial daughter.
4. SHE’S A LINCOLN UNIVERSITY GRAD WITH A MASTER’S FROM PENN.
5. A BLACK LITERATURE BUFF, PARKER NAMED HER SON “LANGSTON,” after Langston Hughes. She’s a single mom.
6. SHE’S JOKINGLY REFERRED TO HERSELF AS AN “OAM,” for old-ass mother, because she was 40 when she gave birth to her son.

Endorsements for Cherelle Parker

Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, Inc. Group of influential Christian church leaders from throughout the city.

Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke. Represents District 5 until retiring from Council in November 2023.

Eastern Atlantic States Council of Carpenters. One of the nation’s largest unions.

Derek Green. Former at-large member of City Council, former assistant District Attorney, and former candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia.

District Council 33 Locals 427 and 403. Unions representing sanitation and streets workers.

IBEW Local 98. Longtime union representing 5,000 local electricians.

Maria Quiñones Sánchez. Former member of City Council representing District 7 and former candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Building Trades Council. This coalition of dozens of regional unions — of plumbers, bricklayers, plasterers, iron workers, steam fitters, roofers, operating engineers … — is a meaningful one. Parker is the first woman to receive the union’s mayoral endorsement.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ. SEIU 32BJ represents 12,000 Philadelphians who clean, provide security and work on facilities in both the airport and the School District. The Inquirer refers to this union as, “a major political spender in East Coast municipal elections.”

State Senators Vincent Hughes, Sharif Street and Tina Tartaglione.

Mayor Jim Kenney. Not an endorsement, exactly, but he voted for her.

Cherelle Parker in Citizen coverage

Videos featuring Cherelle Parker

More ways to learn about Cherelle Parker

Visit Parker’s campaign website.

Follow Parker on social: Twitter, Instagram.

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The Philadelphia Citizen updates this profile and all our Philadelphia mayoral candidate profiles on a regular basis.

Every Voice, Every Vote is a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute, the Wyncote Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, among others. To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters, visit . Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors.

MORE MAYORAL RACE COVERAGE FROM THE CITIZEN

Cherelle Parker at Ultimate Job Interview. Photo: Sabina Louise Pierce

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