Meet Kendra Brooks, a Working Families Party member running for reelection to City Council

Kendra Brooks is trying to beat the odds. Again.

It was just four years ago when the longtime activist became the first member of a third party to win a seat on Philadelphia City Council in more than 70 years, shocking the political establishment and delivering a massive blow to Republicans, who had held her seat for generations.

Now Brooks, a member of the progressive and insurgent Working Families Party, is seeking her second term. And while it’s still hard to win in Philadelphia when you’re not a Democrat, this time, Brooks has the benefit of being an incumbent with four years and her performance to run on.

“I have a proven track record,” Brooks said in an interview. “Whether you agree or disagree with me on the issues, I have done my job, and I’ve done it well.”

Brooks and her running mate, Nicolas O’Rourke, are campaigning for two of the seven seats on Council that represent the city at-large. Voters in November can select up to five candidates, meaning the five Democrats on the ballot are expected to win, given the party’s strong voter registration advantage in the city.

That leaves Brooks and O’Rourke battling Republicans Drew Murray and Jim Hasher ahead of the Nov. 7 general election. To win, the Working Families Party candidates must convince some voters who usually pick five Democrats to instead select fewer Democrats and vote for them.

Here’s what to know about Brooks and her second run for Council:

Just two months after Brooks took office in 2020, the city shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that year, racial justice protests rocked the city for months. Then the world zoomed in on Philadelphia as the presidential election hung in the balance.

Her agenda in some ways shifted to respond to the city’s new normal. Brooks worked with colleagues on legislation that provided for emergency paid sick leave for workers, created a nationally recognized eviction diversion program, expanded access to computers and the internet, and funded nonpolice crisis response teams.

Brooks said she’s proud of the relationships she built to advance her agenda. She said supporters are often surprised that she works with perceived opponents in City Hall and in the business community.

“I realized early on that in order to do this, we have to establish a wide range of relationships to get what we’re fighting for,” she said. “Sometimes I bump heads, but at the end of the day, it’s still about working together to get things done for working people.”

Still, Brooks is critical of the Republicans she’s running against, who describe themselves as moderate.

“So you moderately support working people?” she said. “That’s not what we need. Our city needs someone who is willing to take a stand and fight to the end.”

Brooks has long been passionate about housing affordability and plans to roll out a platform this fall that she said is focused on “housing as a human right.”

The agenda will have several tenets, including expanding her work on community land purchases. Brooks advocated for the city to reacquire vacant properties that are used by communities as gardens or side lots but are slated for sheriff’s sale. The idea is that the city can create pathways for community ownership, as opposed to selling the land to developers who can flip the lots for profit.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia buys $1 million in liens to protect community gardens from sheriff’s sale

For years, Brooks has also been a proponent of rent control, a policy by which the government regulates what a landlord can charge tenants. Earlier this year, she held a hearing that included testimony from tenants, advocates, and experts.

She said the idea is “still a part of our conversation” and that she’s exploring rent stabilization, a less restrictive regulation that limits rent gouging but may not freeze rents or apply unilaterally.

Brooks, 51, moved to Philadelphia at age 8 and has been here ever since. She has roots in the Nicetown section of North Philadelphia, where her activism has been anchored.

She went to school for therapeutic recreation and worked at MossRehab and Easterseals Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Brooks’ activism ramped up in 2014, when the School District of Philadelphia attempted to turn over Steel Elementary School, where her children attended, to Mastery Charter Schools. Brooks organized parents to vote down the plan, and Mastery backed off. She’s been deeply involved in public education activism ever since.

Today, Brooks lives in Nicetown with her husband, Keith, and has four children.

Taxes: Brooks has opposed reductions to taxes on businesses, and last year, she introduced a bill to reinstate a “wealth tax,” or a levy on directly held stocks and bonds. She said the wealth tax is “not off the table” and that “we just have to have the political will to move it forward.”

Public safety: Brooks said she will continue to advocate for new funding for nonpolice units that respond to people in crisis, saying it keeps officers focused on solving violent crime. She said the key to improving public safety is directing new investments into communities that are most affected by crime and gun violence.

Proposed Sixers arena: Brooks said she doesn’t support the proposed Center City Sixers arena “as it’s currently being proposed.”

She said too many questions remain about the arena and its impact on Center City, and she’d like to see a study of other ways that the Market East section can be developed that can be “profitable for businesses, help our tourism, and bring real, long-term jobs for Philadelphians.”

The Working Families Party candidates were endorsed by a handful of politically powerful labor unions last week, including those that represent teachers, service workers, health-care workers, and some municipal employees.