PHILADELPHIA — Over the past six years, progressives in Philadelphia have scored a series of victories that have shaken the city's political scene, and this year, they're looking for their biggest win yet: the mayor's office.
Some of the same groups and organizers that helped the likes of District Attorney Larry Krasner stun the establishment are pinning their 2023 hopes on former Councilmember Helen Gym, hoping to also lift progressive City Council candidates to office.
"If we win, she will be one of the most progressive mayors in the country," said Steph Drain, Philadelphia political director of the labor-aligned Working Families Party. "It would be historic for the left nationally."
The ascendant left has proved it's organized. The question is whether it can overcome increasing pushback.
With City Council president Darrell L. Clarke announcing his retirement — plus significant turnover on Council — the May 16 primary could determine the direction of Philadelphia government for years to come. Democratic primary winners are all but certain to prevail in November given the party's dominance in the city.
A handful of groups backed by business interests are expected to spend big to try to steer the city back toward the center this year. More moderate candidates like Jeff Brown and Allan Domb have been running television ads for months, and former Councilmember Cherelle Parker last week won a coveted endorsement from a coalition of building trades unions.
At the same time, public safety and gun violence are the top issues, and Democrats diverge greatly over law enforcement's role in combating crime. Some Democrats have spent the last two years trying to separate themselves from the leftist-led movement to reduce police funding.
Still, those who closely follow city politics say progressive organizations have developed a strong, volunteer-powered operation that aims to rival the Democratic Party itself in size and could prove formidable this spring.
"Right now, probably the best organized people in town are the progressives," said George R. Burrell Jr., a Democrat who ran for mayor in 1991. "And they're going to have a lot of candidates."
An 'unshakable' base
Gym, a longtime activist who was first elected to Council in 2015, before Krasner's historic win, recently expressed frustration with political labels like progressive, saying during an event last week that "people who want to line folks up on some kind of ideological spectrum ... are missing the boat on politics."
She argues she's worked with colleagues with varying worldviews, and that her support stretches beyond progressives.
"Tacking on labels is not going to ... help you understand a political candidate," she said. "Understanding who they are and what they have done based on their actual track record on taking on big problems is what actually does."
Whatever the label, the left-leaning organizations backing her make up a fervent base.
Drain said Gym's support is "unshakable." He said he's still with her, even after she attended an event at the Union League days after criticizing the private club for presenting an award to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — and hours after the Working Families Party endorsed her.
"She is clearly the most aligned candidate by a long shot," Drain said.
Burrell said the fact that the primary field includes 10 Democrats could benefit a candidate like Gym, who has not yet run television advertisements.
Mayoral candidates have already spent more than $4 million on television ads, with Domb — an independently wealthy former City Council member — shelling out about $2.5 million on TV so far, according to the media tracking firm Ad Impact. Brown, a grocer, has spent more than $700,000 on television, and a dark-money funded super PAC supporting his candidacy has spent nearly $1 million.
Sergio Cea, political director of the activist group Reclaim Philadelphia, said that while TV ads are powerful, volunteers are "hungry" to knock doors on Gym's behalf, saying "this is somebody who is actually our people."
"This is an opportunity for us to vote in a true progressive," he said. "If we win the mayor, it will be the hugest win we've seen since Larry Krasner."
The 'clearest ground game'
State Sen. Nikil Saval, a progressive Philadelphia Democrat who in 2020 beat a three-term incumbent, said what the progressive movement has that's distinct in securing electoral wins is the "clearest ground game."
"The sheer amount of door-knocking and volunteer-based organizing is, one, effective, but two, it's a demonstration of real popular desire," Saval said. "There are people who will take lots of time out of their days to go door-to-door and organize with their neighbors on behalf of a candidate and a broad political vision."
Saval is a former organizer with Unite Here Philly, a union that represents about 6,000 hotel and food-service workers and has in recent years led one of the city's most visible door-knocking operations. The group announced in February that it is backing Gym.
Organized labor is not aligned this year, and a handful of other unions have backed Brown and Parker.
Some organizations made endorsements in this year's mayoral race and Council races earlier than ever before. Candidates can't officially get their names on the ballot until petitions are finalized in mid-March.
Reclaim and the Working Families Party already endorsed slates of Council candidates, including incumbent District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier; at-large candidate Amanda McIllmurray, Reclaim's former political director; and Seth Anderson-Oberman, who is challenging District Councilmember Cindy Bass.
And in November, the Working Families Party will try to oust some of the last remaining Republicans in Philadelphia by running for seats reserved for members of minority parties.
The city's Democratic party declined to back a mayoral candidate, but individual wards can make endorsements. In some of the city's 66 wards, the ward leader will decide. In others, committee people vote on an endorsement.
Earlier in February, the First Ward, which covers parts of South Philadelphia and has been led by a progressive since 2018, voted to endorse Gym. Ward leader Kathleen Melville pointed out that mail voting allows for people to cast their ballots weeks before election day, shifting the usual timeline for endorsements.
"If we want to be able to have at least a month or two where we're knocking doors," she said, "then we need to make endorsements fairly early."
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