Mayor Cherelle Parker vows to fight for Kamala Harris’ campaign ‘block by block, house by house, person by person’
Mayor Parker felt compelled to say she was committed to electing Kamala Harris as president following reports that local Democrats were concerned about Harris' Pennsylvania campaign.
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Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Saturday morning convened more than three dozen local elected officials and union leaders outside City Hall to send a message: Philadelphia Democrats are united behind Kamala Harris.
“We are headed out in neighborhoods across the city, and it’s not just this weekend,” Parker said while standing by the statue of 19th-century civil rights activist Octavius V. Catto. “We have been and will continue to be engaged in the neighborhoods, block by block, house by house, person by person, door by door.”
With just over two weeks to go before the presidential election, it may seem obvious that the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia and the myriad state legislators, City Council members, and union presidents surrounding her were committed to helping their party’s nominee defeat former President Donald Trump.
But Parker felt compelled to double down on the message following recent reports that local Democrats were raising concerns about the effectiveness of Harris’ campaign in Pennsylvania. The concerns, first reported by Politico, included questions from Parker allies about whether the Harris team was effectively using the mayor, who in January became the first woman to hold her office and is seen as widely popular.
Other complaints centered on Harris’ Pennsylvania campaign manager, Nikkilia Lu, who is from Pittsburgh and has not been received well by some political leaders in Philadelphia, and about a lack of coordination among efforts to reach Black and brown voters.
Saturday’s event, which Parker organized with Harris’ campaign, was meant to dispel the notion that local Democrats were not getting along with the vice president’s team.
“We got a little couple hits that we’re not doing enough,” said Bob Brady, who chairs the Democratic City Committee, the local party. “It’s crazy. We’re doing so much. We’re doing it all day today. … The [Philadelphia] Democratic Party elected officials are working hand in hand with the [Harris] campaign.”
Speakers highlighted the numerous get-out-the-vote efforts local Democrats and the Harris campaign have organized in Philadelphia in recent weeks, as well as their plans for the final 17 days of the election. The Harris campaign is organizing 16 neighborhood canvassing shifts in Philadelphia this weekend and on Sunday will send surrogates to 14 churches across the city. In the coming days, the campaign has events with several attendees of Parker’s news conference, including Brady, Council President Kenyatta Johnson, Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and State Rep. Andre Carroll.
Later Saturday, Parker helped launch a canvassing drive at the Harris campaign’s Brewerytown office.