Cherelle Parker breaks bread with mayor’s race rivals: ‘My ego is not big enough that I am not willing to work with anyone’

The candidates who ran in the Democratic primary for mayor gathered dozens of times for forums hosted by civic groups across Philadelphia, a grueling schedule they all came to loathe by election day last week.

On Wednesday, they got together for the cameras one more time — but not to clash or debate.

Cherelle Parker, who won the primary, hosted eight of her former rivals for a “unity breakfast” at the Bleu Brook restaurant in West Philadelphia. All of the top contenders for mayor attended except for the second-place finisher, former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, whom Parker said was traveling and could not make it.

“I learned from each of you on the trail,” Parker told her former rivals at the Bleu Brook. “It was a hard-fought primary. ... All of our emotions are still running high.”

» READ MORE: Inside Cherelle Parker’s winning campaign for Philly’s Democratic mayoral primary

Parker faces Republican David Oh in the general election and is likely to prevail thanks to Philadelphia’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate. The attendees at Wednesday’s event said they would do whatever they could to help her future administration, which would begin in January if she won in November.

“We all have shared values, while we may not always agree on the path,” said Parker, a former state legislator and City Council majority leader. “My ego is not big enough that I am not willing to work with anyone.”

Parker won just under a third of the vote in the primary but still beat her nearest competitor by almost 10 percentage points. She urged unity going forward.

“All of us are Democrats,” she said. “That’s why it was so essential for you all to be with us. … I can’t do this without you.”

Parker said Wednesday that one thing candidates for elected office don’t get “enough credit for” is allowing their lives to be publicly vetted and sacrificing time with their loved ones.

“We opened up our private lives to public scrutiny,” she said.

Since Parker won, she has repeatedly praised her two former rivals who dropped out of the race and endorsed her — former Councilmembers Maria Quiñones Sánchez and Derek Green — prompting speculation that one or both may join Parker’s administration in January.

Quiñones Sánchez said she would take the summer off before deciding what her future holds.

“What I committed to Cherelle was that I was going to support her and then not leave her alone and work with her,” Quiñones Sánchez said. “I don’t have any aspiration for employment because I want to take the entire summer off. I have not been off for 15 years.”

Quiñones Sánchez represented the Kensington-based 7th District on Council. She said that although she’s not sure what her role will be, she hopes to be involved in policy efforts where she and Parker align.

“No one is safe in Philadelphia until residents in Kensington feel safe, heard and seen,” Quiñones Sánchez said.

Parker, who is Black, dominated in precincts where a majority of voters are Black or brown. Quiñones Sánchez said that it was crucial for her and Green, who is also Black, to drop out and consolidate those communities behind Parker.

“The coalescing needed to happen, and it wasn’t going to happen with Derek and I in the race,” she said, “and all we would have done is ensure her loss, as opposed to consolidate her victory.”

Green, a former prosecutor, has also been floated as a potential candidate for the 2025 district attorney’s race. He recently joined the lobbying firm Bellevue Strategies, as first reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

“I’m keeping all my options open,” he said. “I went from being a City Council member at-large to a citizen at-large, so I’m looking forward to helping to move Philadelphia forward.”

Former Councilmember Helen Gym, a leader of the city’s progressive movement who finished third in the primary, said it was too early to analyze the race.

“I don’t think this is a time to post-mortem anything,” she said. “I think this is the mayor’s day, and this is important to come together.”

Gym declined to comment on her future, but said she would remain focused on strengthening Philadelphia’s school system.

“I wasn’t really just running for an election; I was running to change the way people live in this city,” she said, “and that absolutely includes our young people and especially the situation around our schools.”

Former Councilmember Allan Domb, a real estate magnate who put more than $10 million of his own money into his campaign and finished fourth, said he had no regrets about running.

“It was the greatest opportunity and experience. I met the best people. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Domb said. “I did it basically because I wanted to help the city. I felt that I could really do a good job, and I did it with my heart.”

Grocer Jeff Brown, who finished fifth in the primary, said that he’s not sure what’s next in his career. Brown said he turned over control of his chain of ShopRite stores to his wife and son before running for mayor and does not plan to jump back in the grocery business.

“I don’t see myself as like a cabinet secretary or anything like that but I definitely want to help,” Brown said. “On a volunteer basis, I would do whatever I could to help Cherelle be successful.”

Brown was the only first-time candidate in the race. He shot up to the top of the field early before falling behind amid a series of missteps and an ethics board investigation into an outside spending group supporting him.

“It was a very interesting experience. It was my foray into politics,” Brown said. “I thought this was a good time to have a different kind of leader, but people chose what they felt was most important, and I don’t second-guess our democracy.”

Asked whether he might run for office again, Brown said, “Probably not.”