A frenzy of campaign events descended on Philly as mayoral candidates make their final push

They chatted up families at diners, rallied on stage with political celebs, stumped at rainy arts festivals, and in a Lowe’s parking lot.

Mayoral candidates making their final push in a seemingly neck-and-neck … and-neck-and-neck race crisscrossed Philadelphia in recent days as their supporters eagerly await a Democratic mayoral primary that they say comes down to leadership, integrity, and safeguarding the city they love.

With two days to go, the race — the most expensive in Philadelphia history — appeared at a relative standstill with a poll showing a virtual three-way tie between Helen Gym, Cherelle Parker, and Rebecca Rhynhart, with Allan Domb within striking distance and Jeff Brown not far behind. One in six likely voters, according to that poll, said they were undecided. Nine candidates will appear on the ballot for mayor.

In the heavily Democratic city, the primary to elect the presumptive replacement for Mayor Jim Kenney, who is term-limited, could make history if one of the three women leading in the polls comes out on top. Philadelphia has never had a female mayor.

More than 1,000 supporters of Gym gathered inside the cavernous Franklin Music Hall Sunday for a get-out-the-vote rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.).

“The eyes of the nation are on this city today because we are going to make history on Tuesday!” Gym told the amped-up crowd. She said it was no accident the rally took place on Mother’s Day “because mothers are the backbone of this campaign.”

Supporters with “Moms for Helen” and “Teachers for Helen” signs filled the lower and upper levels of the venue, where TVs showed the Sixers-Celtics playoff game until organizers mercifully turned off the blowout midway through the third quarter.

The crowd chanted “I believe that we will win,” with Tuesday’s contest in mind.

“This isn’t about one woman, it’s about a movement,” said Julian Prados Franks, a seventh-grade math teacher from Northwest Philadelphia. “She activates groups that are fighting on behalf of marginalized people and working-class people, and that’s what gets someone like me excited. That’s what this city needs.”

Aileen Callahan, a 29-year-old field director with the Working Families Party, from Lower Kensington, said Gym “started organizing for me and my family when I was in kindergarten. She’s been fighting for me most of my life.”

The national progressive movement has lined up behind Gym in the race, seeing Philadelphia as a continuation of local wins in Los Angeles and Chicago.

“Helen has the backbone, she has the energy, and she has the skill to not only be a great mayor of Philadelphia but one of the great mayors in the United States of America,” Sanders said. He encouraged the crowd to keep working.

“This is likely going to be a very close election.”

Gym’s campaign has leaned into the national progressive support in the final stretch. As the rally went on, a “Swifties for Gym” banner plane flew over the Taylor Swift concert a few miles south at Lincoln Financial Field.

Rhynhart dismissed the progressive star power as unlikely to impact the race when asked about Gym’s rally at her own event in Center City on Sunday.

“Philadelphians are focused on Philadelphia right now,” Rhynhart said. “Anyone coming in ... they’re not the ones that are living and raising their kids here, and to me that’s not going to sway voters.”

Rhynhart’s campaign said it knocked on 10,000 doors on Saturday and Sunday. Field director Noëlle Daniels said voter awareness of Rhynhart has grown immensely in recent weeks.

“People know who Rebecca is when we’re knocking on their doors,” she said. “We’re all over the city.”

At a gathering in Cliveden Park in East Mount Airy Saturday, rain fell steadily as former Mayor Michael Nutter spoke to a few dozen volunteers who’d gathered to knock on doors for Rhynhart, his former budget director who’s now among the top tier of candidates to win his old job.

“Philly is a very special place,” Nutter told them. “And we need a very special person who is well-rounded, understands people, is committed to the government, and has run the most positive campaign about issues that matter to people.”

Rhynhart touted that her campaign is powered by volunteers, saying it’s canvassing that will “make it a tight election.”

One of the volunteers, Ricardo Maldonado, 44, is a health-care worker and first-time campaign volunteer. Maldonado said he was concerned about public safety and “had to get involved” in the mayor’s race. He thinks Rhynhart has the most “honesty and integrity” among the top candidates, an important attribute as he sees people become less and less trusting of government.

“We need to eliminate that gap,” he said. “And actually have people leading us that we can trust.”

On Saturday afternoon Parker marched into the carpenters’ union hall behind the West Powelton Steppers and Drum Squad for a “pep rally” that featured food from the Bleu Brook restaurant in West Philadelphia and a performance by the rapper Freeway.

The crowd of about 200 people, which may have been hampered by a rain-induced venue change, was made up overwhelmingly of politicos. That’s unsurprising given that Parker has secured the backing of the vast majority of local elected officials and ward leaders who have made endorsements in the race.

She added one more name to that list at the rally when she was joined onstage by Councilmember Cindy Bass, who has had a rocky relationship with Parker over the years and is facing her own tough reelection battle.

Bass took some digs at Parker’s rivals and highlighted that she is the only lifelong Philadelphian among the top contenders in the race.

“We’re not talking about a transplant from the suburbs. We’re not talking about a transplant from Ohio,” Bass said, apparently referring to Rhynhart and Gym, respectively. “I’m 100% behind Cherelle Parker for mayor.”

Parker rejected criticisms that being backed by establishment politicians meant she can’t bring real change to the city. “We know you don’t trust the politics. You haven’t seen the tax dollars at work in your neighborhood,” said Parker, a former Council member and state representative. “We need you to give Cherelle a chance to do in this city what she has done. ... When she says something, she gets it done.”

State Sen. Sharif Street, who backs Parker, said he believes she will win working-class voters just starting to tune into the election.

“Cherelle’s voter is just a regular rowhouse person who woke up in the morning, and they’re like, ‘Hey, it’s Election Day,’” Street said.

As a Frank Sinatra song blasted behind him, Domb campaigned at a street festival in South Philadelphia last week that featured “the world’s largest cannoli.”

The longtime Realtor and two-term city councilman is hoping a coalition that includes support from business-minded Democrats in the South and Northeast parts of the city can pull him over the line in a race where he’s spent a staggering $10 million of his own money but still trails in a tight race.

While Domb has deployed an avalanche of TV ads, he’s also kept a packed campaign schedule, stopping at diners in the Northeast, a pierogi festival in Port Richmond, and a kinetic derby in Kensington over the weekend.

At the Italian Market block party last week, supporters called Domb “down to earth,” and “beholden to nobody.”

“We need Allan to keep guys like me in the city because if he doesn’t win, I’m running out,” said Frank Borda, a restaurant owner in South Philadelphia. “He’s the only qualified one. Let’s hope he wins, I think he can.”

Bob Caplan, who grew up in Northeast Philly and now lives in South Philadelphia, said Domb is the candidate he thinks is best equipped to tackle the crime problem.

“It’s gonna take time, it’s not gonna happen overnight, but hopefully, with him, we have a safer city. I’m here 50 years in this city and my wife is upset she has to walk around with pepper spray. Allan loves this city and he doesn’t need this job. He wants to help.”

Domb delivered brief remarks. “When you’re successful, so is the city,” he told the crowd, which included several restaurant and small-business owners. “We’re a team and we have to have that attitude across city government. This campaign’s about leadership.”

The parking lot at the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Parkside was dotted with Brown lawn signs and full of SUVs covered in campaign fliers, a truck with large screens playing Brown’s commercials, and a tractor-trailer emblazoned with the Teamsters’ logo.

The group of two-dozen cars and trucks — plus a bus holding Brown and his top supporters — made up a campaign caravan of sorts that snaked through West Philly Saturday. It made several stops along the way, where Brown and his backers from organized labor met voters and passed out literature.

One of the volunteers was Eric Hill, the business agent of Local 159 of AFSCME District Council 33, the union that represents correctional officers. Leaders of DC33, the city’s largest municipal union, have been among Brown’s staunchest supporters.

“He’s not a politician,” Hill said of Brown, a grocer and first-time candidate. He said he wasn’t concerned about polls showing Brown trailing four other candidates in the home stretch. “The real poll that matters is Tuesday, and the determination will be made then.”

Brown said his closing message is the same he opened with.

“It doesn’t make any sense to put in the people who got us here,” Brown said, referring to his opponents, all of whom have held elected office. “We need a bigger change, and the city is ready for a bigger change.”

At a shopping center near 58th and Baltimore, Brown met Florence Davis, a West Philly resident who told him that her daughter had worked in one of his ShopRite stores for a decade. She said ShopRite provided child care and legal services, benefits she never forgot about.

“He takes care of his people,” Davis said. “And I hope he wins.”