Linda Deliah Thompson (born 1960) is an American politician and former mayor of

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

serving from January 4, 2010, until January 6, 2014. Thompson was Harrisburg's first female and first black mayor. In 2016 Thompson established LDT Ministries.

Early life

Born and raised in Harrisburg, Thompson graduated from Harrisburg High School in 1979. She went on to attend

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

where she received a B.S. in Communications. While in Washington, Thompson interned at the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

Political career

2001 City Council race

In 2001, Thompson was elected to serve on the

Harrisburg City Council The Harrisburg City Council is the legislative branch of the city government of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and consists of seven members elected at-large.

. She was re-elected and appointed President of City Council in 2005. While on council, Thompson introduced legislation to sell off city-owned Western artifacts in order to raise money to pay down debts. She also amended the 2009 budget to include $100,000 to pay for a citywide bulk trash pickup.

2009 Mayoral race

Thompson decided not to run for re-election in 2009 and instead ran for the Democratic nomination for Mayor. In the May primary, Thompson beat former mayor

Stephen R. Reed Stephen Russell Reed (August 9, 1949 – January 25, 2020) was the longest-serving mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Dubbed "Mayor-for-Life," he was re-elected to seven four-year terms, serving from 1982 to 2010. After leaving office, Reed face ...

by nearly 1,000 votes to win the election. Despite her upset win in the Democratic primary, Thompson went on to win the general election by only about 800 votes against Republican challenger Nevin Mindlin. Failure to reach an agreement on how to assign the budget and what should or should not be included, as well as an Act 47 proposal by the state turned down by the City Council, led to a fiscal emergency she attempted to resolve.

2013 Mayoral race

In the primaries for the

2013 Harrisburg mayoral election The 2013 mayoral election in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was held on November 5, 2013, and resulted in Eric Papenfuse, a local bookstore owner and Democrat, being elected to his first term. Background Incumbent first term Democratic mayor Lin ...

Thompson was defeated for re-nomination as mayor by Harrisburg businessman Eric R. Papenfuse, who won the primary, and City Controller Dan Miller, who placed second.

2014 US House of Representatives race

Thompson was the Democratic nominee for the 4th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in 2014. She was defeated by incumbent Republican

Scott Perry Scott Gordon Perry (born May 27, 1962) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard brigadier general who is the U.S. representative for , serving since 2013. The district, numbered as from 2013 to 2019, is centered around Harrisb ...

2022 State House of Representatives race

In March 2022, Thompson announced a run against Heather MacDonald and incumbent Patty Kim for the103rd District seat in the state House of Representatives. In April of that year, Thompson announced that she was dropping out of the race.

Controversies

Widespread criticisms of Thompson's management style came early and throughout her mayoral tenure, and was reported referring to City Controller Dan Miller as "that homosexual, evil little man," causing staffers to resign.

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

2011 brought a "Show Your Love for Harrisburg: Demand Linda Thompson Resign" rally in the plaza outside of City Hall of over 200 protesters, where she stood at the window and mocked her detractors with hand gestures and mouthed "I'm staying". In late March 2013 as Mayor Thompson was discussing the

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of city waste collection, she stated, "We're not opening up our flood gates for some scumbag that comes from

Perry County Perry County may refer to: United States *Perry County, Alabama *Perry County, Arkansas *Perry County, Illinois *Perry County, Indiana *Perry County, Kentucky *Perry County, Mississippi *Perry County, Missouri *Perry County, Ohio * Perry Cou ...

who … comes here and wants to dump for free." The comment brought about a firestorm of backlash.Mayor Linda Thompson's 'scumbag' comment causes firestorm
Harrisburg Patriot-News, March 28, 2013. Accessed 2013.

References

External links

LDT Ministries
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Linda D. 1960 births Living people Mayors of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg City Council members African-American mayors in Pennsylvania Women mayors of places in Pennsylvania 21st-century mayors of places in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Democrats Women city councillors in Pennsylvania African-American city council members in Pennsylvania 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians African-American women mayors