Running for office under indictment? New for Trump and the nation but not so for Philly.

Donald Trump, you may have heard, is making his third bid for the White House while under indictment for paying hush money to suppress talk of extramarital affairs during his first campaign.

That’s unprecedented in most places. Not so in Philly.

Our fair city’s long list of politicians who have been convicted for corrupt schemes includes at least eight who sought reelection with a verdict either looming or already decided. Four won and four lost.

This tradition dates back more than four decades to the Abscam scandal, an expansive federal investigation that ensnared dozes of politicians, including two U.S. House members from the city.

Former U.S. Rep. Michael “Ozzie” Myers was still the Democratic nominee in his district in 1980 as he sought a third term just three months after being convicted on bribery charges. House members voted to expel Myers a month before the general election but he stayed on the ballot … and lost.

Myers went back to federal prison last year on a bribery and ballot-stuffing beef. His projected release date is in October 2024, just before the presidential election.

Former U.S. Rep. Raymond Lederer was the only member of Congress indicted for Abscam to win reelection in 1980. He was sworn in for a third term on the day his trial started in Brooklyn in 1981. He resigned later that year after his conviction and returned home from prison to become a Democratic ward leader in Fishtown.

Former State House Speaker John Perzel, a Northeast Philly Republican who rose to power during three decades in office, lost his bid for reelection in 2010 while under indictment on corruption charges. He pleaded guilty in 2011, served a prison term and is now a lobbyist.

State Sen. LeAnna Washington lost the Democratic primary in 2014, two months after being arrested on corruption charges. She took a plea deal later that year.

Two former state representatives, Democrats Leslie Acosta and Vanessa Lowery Brown, won reelection after their criminal convictions but resigned — Acosta in December 2016, Brown in December 2018 — under pressure from their House colleagues.

Former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah lost his 2016 Democratic primary, just 20 days ahead of his trial on federal corruption charges that resulted in a conviction and a prison term.

And former City Councilmember Bobby Henon coasted to reelection in 2019 after being indicted in January of that year with John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty and other officials from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Henon, convicted with Dougherty on bribery charges in 2021, is due to start serving a 3½-year federal prison sentence in 10 days.

Philadelphia mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker has started consolidating support from some top Democrats in the city — and now, apparently, from across the Delaware River.

Clout hears a handful of top South Jersey Democrats hosted a fundraiser for Parker Monday at the Capital Grille in Philly. The guest list included Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen, former Camden Mayor Dana Redd, and notably, ex-state Senate President Steve Sweeney, long one of the most powerful political figures in Jersey.

Sweeney, who in 2021 lost his Senate seat to a Republican truck driver in stunning fashion, is an ironworker by trade and held top posts with the regional and national unions. Parker is backed by the building trades, including the ironworkers, so he naturally fits in her corner.

One of the organizers of the fundraiser was Camden County Commissioner Jeffrey L. Nash, vice chair of the board of the Delaware River Port Authority, which Parker chairs. He said South Jersey’s interests align closely with Philadelphia’s.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Jersey power dipped into a Philly mayoral election.

In 2015, the New Jersey carpenters union poured $700,000 into a super PAC that backed Jim Kenney, who went on to win the primary. They did so in defiance of the Philadelphia carpenters union, which backed Kenney’s primary opponent, State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams.

In 2018, the New Jersey and Philadelphia carpenters unions consolidated, and Parker is backed by the regional entity.

There was some chatter in 2015 that George Norcross, the insurance executive and South Jersey Democratic Party boss, was involved in the pro-Kenney effort.

Norcross’ camp has said there’s no evidence he meddled in that race. And there’s no sign he’s involved in any effort to elevate Parker.

But with the race wide open with six weeks to go and two candidates capable of self-funding their campaigns, any help — even if from across the river — is surely welcome in Parker’s camp.

“We need to come in and clean this office out. The sole purpose this office should be transparency, accountability, and efficiency. And we have to do away with the waste, the fraud and the abuse of dollars going on in this office.”

— Michael Untermeyer, challenging Sheriff Rochelle Bilal while speaking to Philly For Change Tuesday.

“He ran for sheriff in 2007 as a Democrat. Then he ran for City Council as a Republican. Then he ran again for another position as a Democrat. Then he ran for the DA’s Office and put millions of dollars into his campaign but has not invested one dime in this city.”

— Bilal, responding to Untermeyer at the same event.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.