Cherelle Parker
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Cherelle Lesley Parker (born September 9, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the 100th
mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...
since 2024. She is the first woman to hold the office. Parker served in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...
from 2005 to 2015, representing the 200th district in Northwest Philadelphia. She was elected to represent the ninth district on the
Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...
in
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
and re-elected in
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, serving as majority leader from 2020 to 2022. In September 2022, Parker resigned from City Council and announced her candidacy in the 2023 Philadelphia mayoral election. She won the Democratic primary in May 2023, going on to defeat Republican David Oh in the general election in November.


Early life and education

Parker was born in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia to an unmarried teenage mother. Her mother died when Parker was 11, and she was raised by her grandparents, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran and a domestic worker who both grew up in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
. In 1990, as a senior at Parkway High School, Parker won a citywide oratorical competition. In winning the competition, she was awarded a cash prize, a trip to Senegal and Morocco, and was introduced to then-
Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...
member Marian B. Tasco, who hired Parker as an intern. Parker graduated from Lincoln University in 1994. She is a member of the
Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emp ...
sorority.


Career

After graduating from Lincoln University in 1994, Parker worked briefly as a
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
English teacher in Pleasantville, New Jersey, and then returned to Tasco's office in 1995, where she did a variety of roles for a decade. In 2005, Parker ran in a special election to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...
to fill an open seat vacated by LeAnna Washington after Washington was elected to the
Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...
. Parker won the election, and became the youngest Black woman ever elected to the
Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvani ...
. She remained in that office for ten years, and for five years was chair of the Philadelphia delegation. In the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, she supported the "Philadelphia Tax Fairness Package", a new and special tax on the purchase of cigarettes, and the Act 75, which in 2012 amended state law to allow expert testimony in sexual assault cases. Tasco retired from Philadelphia city council in 2015, and encouraged Parker to succeed her. She was supported by the city's Democratic Party, and won. As a member of the Philadelphia City Council, she led the passage of the "Philly First Home" program, which aids first-time home buyers in meeting down payments and closing costs on the purchase of a home. In January 2020, Parker defeated Bobby Henon to become majority leader for Democrats on the city council. In February 2021, Parker was elected the chair of the board for the
Delaware River Port Authority The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), officially the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is a bi-state agency instrumentality created by a congressionally approved interstate compact between the state governments ...
.


2023 Philadelphia mayoral campaign


Primary election

On September 7, 2022, Parker resigned from the City Council and announced her candidacy for
Mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...
in the 2023 election. Following her resignation, she also registered as a lobbyist in Pennsylvania, and secured Longwood Gardens and Moore College of Art and Design as clients. In the mayoral campaign primary, Parker ran as a moderate Democrat compared to other more progressive candidates. Her campaign focused on crime and public safety, pledging to hire 300 new police officers and opposing the establishment of a supervised injection site for heroin and other injectable drugs in Philadelphia. As a Philadelphia City Council member, Parker opposed the police tactic of "stop and frisk", also known as a Terry stop. But during her campaign for mayor, she reversed her position on them, saying, "Terry stops are what I wholeheartedly embrace as a tool that law enforcement needs, to make the public safety of our city their number one priority. It is a legal tool." Polling ahead of the mayoral primary found that Parker was in a statistical tie with Rebecca Rhynhart and Helen Gym. Parker was endorsed by several labor unions and members of the city's political establishment, including former mayoral candidates Maria Quiñones-Sánchez and Derek S. Green. Parker lagged in fundraising behind most of the major candidates. Campaign finance reports showed she and Rhynhart were the only two candidates to raise a majority of their funds from Philadelphia residents. On May 16, 2023, Parker was declared the winner of the Democratic primary, receiving 32.6% of the vote and defeating her closest opponent by ten percentage points, due to her strong support in Black and low-income neighborhoods in the city.


General election

Parker faced Republican city council member David Oh in the general election. For almost a month after securing the Democratic primary, Parker did not campaign, citing complications from an earlier dental root canal procedure. Even after recovering, Parker refused to debate Oh, claiming that the 7 to 1 voter registration advantage the Democrats made any effort to interact with Oh a waste of campaign resources. Jennifer Stefano in ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'' called Parker's decision not to debate Oh "Trumpesque" and "a danger to our democracy". Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, also criticized Parker's refusal to debate Oh, saying it would be the first time in 24 years without a debate between the city's mayoral candidates in the general election. Parker agreed to participate in a joint interview with Oh at the Please Touch Museum, where they took questions from children related to their vision of Philadelphia. Parker said she wishes to see Philadelphia be the "safest, cleanest, and greenest big city in the nation, with economic opportunity for all". Shortly afterwards, Parker reversed her position on debating Oh and agreed to participate in a single debate on October 26 on ''Philadelphia's Morning News'', KYW radio program. As of September 27, Parker had only raised an additional $875,000 in campaign donations compared to her $2.2 million raised during the primary, but she spent roughly twice that of Oh, who raised a total of $467,000. Parker defeated Oh with 75% of the vote in the general election, which was the lowest showing by a Democrat since John F. Street in the 2003 election.


Mayor of Philadelphia

Parker's term as mayor began at midnight on January 1, 2024, but she was not formally sworn in until January 2 to avoid conflicting with the
Mummers Parade The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. It started in 1901, and is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States. Local clubs, usually called "New Years Associations" or "New Years Brigades", compete i ...
, an annual
New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...
tradition in Philadelphia. In contrast to her predecessors, her transition team was slow to appoint commissioners for a majority of city agencies, leaving some departments without permanent leadership for over a month into Parker's mayoral term, while others retained appointees from the Jim Kenney administration. Parker's administration proposed a media policy which required all public statements to be approved by the Mayor's Office of Communications, drawing criticism from many branches of the
Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...
, who warned on the evening before the policy went into effect that it would prevent branches from communicating promptly with patrons about programming and unplanned closures. Staff also cited concerns that the policy could be used to censor print and digital content. After public outcry, the policy was reversed. Parker ordered a return to full-time, in-person work for city employees by July 15, 2024.


Budget

On March 14, Parker released her proposed city budget for fiscal year 2024–2025. The budget plan proposed increased funding for the police and for city cleaning and greening efforts, as well as an increase in the
School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated State schools, public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the largest school district in Pennsylvania and the eighth-lar ...
's share of the real estate tax. Unlike previous mayors, Parker's first budget proposal did not include a major, potentially controversial spending priority. The mayor's office received the largest funding increase of any city department, with its budget growing by 151% and the mayor's direct staff increasing from 39 positions to 113. Parker proposed a $1 million cut to funding for Prevention Point, a
harm reduction Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. H ...
and syringe exchange organization that operates in Kensington. This proposal was criticized by physicians and public health researchers, with the city's Director of HIV Health saying it would lead to a spike in HIV cases among needle users. The budget cut funding for Vision Zero, an initiative to end traffic deaths, and initially did not include funding needed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority to develop the site of the UC Townhomes, though that funding was later added. Tax rates remained flat and two property tax relief programs were expanded, while code enforcement and sanitation programs received budget increases.


Public safety

On April 11th, Parker visited
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
to commemorate her 100th day in office and released her public safety plan for the neighborhood and the city at large. On May 8, Parker ordered police and municipal workers to clear a large encampment between McPherson Square and Allegheny Ave in Kensington. Witnesses reported sanitation workers using water hoses and leaf blowers to drive people off the streets. Several harm-reduction advocates refused an order by police to disperse. Of around 75 people who were counted living on the block, the Parker administration said 59 were placed in a shelter or treatment since April, with 31 institutionalized after the encampment clearance. On September 4, 34 people were arrested during another encampment sweep in Kensington. One woman arrested that day, Amanda Cahill, was found dead in her jail cell three days later.


Proposed Sixers arena

In September 2024, Parker released a statement announcing her support for the proposed 76 Place at Market East development, despite objections from neighboring
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and other community groups. She had launched a citywide tour to promote the agreement and vigorously pushed City Council to pass the necessary legislation. However, the owners of the
Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...
and Wells Fargo Center, where the 76ers have been playing since 1996, worked out a deal to build a New South Philadelphia Arena, resulting in some observers saying that she and the lawmakers who backed the project were used as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the Sixers ownership and Comcast leaders.


Immigration

During the second Trump administration, Parker administration officials avoided calling Philadelphia a "
sanctuary city A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law. Proponents of sanctuary cities cite motives such as reducing the fear of persons which illegally immigrated fr ...
" and instead called it a "welcoming city." After police forcefully arrested 15 people at a protest against an ICE raid in the city, Parker warned that city police would take an assertive approach to maintaining order at the No Kings protest.


Political positions


Education

In 2023, Parker supported opening schools for a longer duration of the day and mandatory year-round schooling, arguing that "children are no longer working the farms in summertime". She proposed launching a pilot program, and increasing the allocation of real estate taxes that go toward the Philadelphia School District from 55% to 58% to accommodate for the increased air conditioning costs associated with longer operating hours during the school year.


Public safety

Parker's platform was described as " tough on crime". Parker opposes supervised injection sites. She supported Terry stops, also known as "constitutional stop-and-frisk", in her mayoral campaign after having previously fought to end them on the Philadelphia City Council, labeling them unconstitutional and discriminatory. In a 2022 op-ed for ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'', Parker pledged to hire 300 additional police officers.


Personal life

In 2010, Parker married Ben Mullins, a leader in the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 820,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, an ...
. They live in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, and have a son, Langston, who was named after Langston Hughes. In 2011, Parker was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after she was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. She was convicted, and after losing an appeal in 2015, was sentenced to three days in jail, a $1,000 fine, and a one-year driver's license suspension.


See also

* List of members of Philadelphia City Council since 1952


References


External links


Cherelle Parker for Mayor
campaign website
Rep. Cherelle L. Parker
legislative website * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Cherelle 1972 births Living people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American city council members in Pennsylvania African-American mayors in Pennsylvania African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania 21st-century African-American women politicians African-American women mayors Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni Mayors of Philadelphia Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania politicians convicted of crimes Philadelphia City Council members University of Pennsylvania alumni Women city councillors in Pennsylvania Women mayors of places in Pennsylvania 21st-century mayors of places in Pennsylvania Women state legislators in Pennsylvania 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly