Philly’s Northwest Coalition has elected mayors. Will it determine the next one?

The Philadelphia mayor’s race looked neck-and-neck in early April 2015 — until a group of prominent Black leaders in Northwest Philadelphia gathered at a soul-food restaurant on Ogontz Avenue to endorse Jim Kenney.

Kenney went on to win the Democratic primary with 56% of the vote, and nearly 20% of his votes came from the Northwest.

“You’re talking to a guy who was not elected mayor in 2015 because they went with the other guy,” said Anthony Hardy Williams, who lost that primary to Kenney. “Since that time, I think every election there’s a pursuit of that bloc of voters.”

The impact of that 2015 endorsement was no accident. It grew from a movement that goes back decades, to a unified group of community organizers and elected leaders who galvanized turnout and reshaped Black political power in the city. The Northwest Coalition, based in middle-class neighborhoods like Germantown, Mount Airy, and West Oak Lane, has had a major influence in Philadelphia politics for decades.

Today, Northwest Philadelphia voters remain a key bloc, but the coalition’s power is more fractured, a product of changing political dynamics and a less centralized purpose. This year’s mayoral field includes two former City Council members from the Northwest — Derek Green and Cherelle Parker, a leader of the modern-day iteration of the group. Political observers say the May 16 primary will test the power of a political force in transition, though it’s unclear how big of an impact it will have.

“I don’t think there is a Northwest coalition anymore,” said John White Jr., an early founder of the group. “These are different times and it’s a different set of circumstances, but the leaders, I don’t think they’re connected in the same way.”

Others disagree. State Rep. Stephen Kinsey, who represents part of Germantown, predicted the election would “galvanize” leaders in the Northwest and ultimately show their strength.

A win for Parker, who heads one of the biggest turnout wards in the Northwest, would be a notable sign of the coalition’s strength. She has collected a handful of endorsements from Northwest leaders, although U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans — the most well-known elected official from that coalition — has been conspicuously silent on the race.

“Northwest Philadelphia has always been a powerful vote producer and has influence on who has been elected mayor,” said former Mayor Wilson Goode, who partly credited the political leaders of the Northwest for his becoming the first Black mayor in 1983.

“With two candidates running, I don’t think that’s going to be the case this time around.”

The Northwest coalition started out as a grassroots effort that sprung from the civil rights movement at a time when Black Americans were becoming more of a political force.

In Philadelphia, community organizers energized voters in working-class neighborhoods and helped elect independent Black politicians in a majority Black city led by a mostly white Democratic machine.

“Back then, the party was the dominant force,” said White Jr., whose father, John White Sr., was among those who started the coalition. The mission then, he said, “was about electing people who thought independently and were not in lockstep with the party leadership.”

Over the years, White Jr., Williams’ father Hardy Williams, and others built up voter engagement with little money and a lot of shoe leather, hosting fish fries and chicken dinners. They worked with real estate agents to give voter registration forms to new homeowners, hosted a radio show, and focused on constituent services.

The coalition helped launch the careers of dozens of politicians who then became its leaders, including U.S. Rep. Bill Gray, elected in 1978, and Marian Tasco, who represented Northwest Philadelphia in Council for 28 years.

“We were difference makers,” said White Jr., whose son is running former city controller Rebecca Rhynhart’s campaign for mayor this year.

More recently, the coalition became known for endorsements in the 2015 mayoral race and the 2017 election of District Attorney Larry Krasner. The elevation of two white candidates by a group founded on elevating Black political power also showed how the movement’s mission had changed.

“It’s evolved to the point where people in the Northwest are are longer responding to the past,” Williams said. “They’re here now and they’re asking, ‘My property taxes are going up. I feel less safe. … I’ve already done the empowerment of African Americans. ... Now what can you do for me?’”

Today, it’s a bit harder to define who “runs” the Northwest coalition. Tasco, 85, has stepped away from politics for the last several years. Evans and Parker have remained leaders but have butted heads, according to several sources.

“The Northwest coalition is much different from when we came together and got Jim Kenney in office,” Kinsey said. ”We understand that and so now the key is, how do we link back up in a collective fashion?”

Meanwhile, redistricting has shifted some of the districts in the area, which now also has elected leaders who aren’t aligned with the coalition.

For example, state Rep. Chris Rabb beat a party-backed candidate to win his Northwest seat and then defeated incumbent and coalition-backed Isabella Fitzgerald after their districts were drawn together.

The Northwest’s neighborhoods have also changed. East Oak Lane, West Oak Lane, and parts of Mount Airy are seeing a dramatic decline in median income and a small drop in population, attributed to aging residents not being replaced by people in a similar income bracket.

That’s somewhat reflected in voting. The Northwest’s share of the citywide vote dropped 20% from 2018 to 2022. But that figure doesn’t tell the whole story. The Northwest’s vote share in 2018 was high because other areas had low turnout. In 2022, its share decreased comparatively, though taken in aggregate, raw votes coming out of the Northwest haven’t declined much at all. If anything, an analysis of the Northwest shows its relative stability compared to the rest of the city.

Rabb argued turnout isn’t the result of the coalition, but historic engagement in the area.

“It’s a culture of these neighborhoods that they have voter turnout,” Rabb said. “There’s no infrastructure that I’m aware of that turns out votes.”

Parker’s political career is synonymous with Northwest Philadelphia. She started interning as a high school senior for then-Councilmember Tasco. Years later, Tasco and Evans gave Parker away at her wedding, standing in for her parents, who had died. Tasco endorsed Parker and refers to her as “her daughter.”

Parker’s legislative agenda has been tied to boosting middle class Black families who moved into the Northwest in the ‘70s and ‘80s, helping build the movement.

She said the coalition remains “essential.” In February, she was endorsed by committee people from Parker’s 50th Ward and two other ward leaders in the Northwest.

“The Northwest is an extremely wide ranging group of different individuals and constituencies but there’s always been a coalition of ward leaders that have been able to come together to try to leverage their voting power,” Parker said. “I don’t care who you are — standing alone in this city in electoral politics will get you nothing.”

Green, a lawyer and former Council member who also worked for Tasco, is a committee person in the 22nd Ward and an active member of the East Mount Airy Neighbors. Though he’s carved out a more independent political path, his ties to politicians and the community could cut into Parker’s support there.

“You have two people running coming from the Northwest, that shows a sense of strength,” Green said. “But also the electorate is changing. ... It’s changed over time, just like elections have changed over time, just as politics have changed, and people have relationships beyond a specific area where they live.”

Staff writer Aseem Shukla contributed to this article.