Behind the scenes of how Kenyatta Johnson won the race to become Philly’s next City Council president

Last week, 11 current and four future City Council members met at the Prime Rib restaurant in South Philadelphia to unofficially elect Kenyatta Johnson as their next leader.

The private event, which was organized by Johnson, was not an official Council meeting, but a “straw poll,” a Johnson spokesperson said.

In rotating groups of four, Council members met with and voiced support for Johnson and the other three members who will be officially elected to leadership positions in January. That kept the total number of Council members in one room to at most eight at a time, one shy of a majority in the 17-member body — ensuring the lawmakers didn’t break state open meeting laws that prohibit them from gathering a quorum behind closed doors to discuss official business.

Afterward, they all sat down for lunch, with instructions not to talk about work, Johnson spokesperson Vincent Thompson said.

» READ MORE: From a family tragedy to City Hall, how Kenyatta Johnson rose to power before his corruption trial

While the event served no official purpose, it ended all doubts that Johnson would succeed retiring Council President Darrell L. Clarke. And it capped a remarkable turnaround in political fortunes for Johnson, a third-term Democrat who was acquitted last year on federal corruption charges.

“I am humbled and honored that members of City Council are entrusting in me the opportunity to lead City Council during a very, very exciting time,” Johnson said in an interview. “I’m just happy that I received the support of the nine members who stepped up to support me initially, and that was just based on, not only me supporting my current colleagues in this election, but me having a background in building relationships and coalitions.”

But Johnson’s win was delivered weeks before the Prime Rib luncheon, when one member who many assumed to be voting for his chief rival switched sides.

Interviews with more than a dozen people — including members of Council, City Hall staffers, and other political players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations — shed light on the backroom maneuvering. Johnson was able to win over colleagues, they said, thanks to a collaborative leadership style, support from labor, and political circumstances that thwarted his competition.

The second-most powerful office in city government, the Council president controls the flow of legislation and has the power to derail a mayor’s agenda. And thanks to Clarke, who expanded Council’s influence during his 12-year tenure, the office has often felt like the dominant force in City Hall in recent years.

Curtis Jones Jr. did not attend the Prime Rib lunch consecrating Johnson’s victory. But in an interview, he said he hoped Council will thrive under Johnson.

“I wish him success because if Council is successful, the administration will be successful, and if the administration is successful, the city will benefit and prosper,” Jones said.

After Clarke announced in the spring that he would not be running for reelection, five Council members expressed interest in the top job. But the top contenders were Johnson, who represents the South Philadelphia-based 2nd District, and Jones, who represents the 4th District, which includes parts of West and Northwest Philadelphia.

The race never became nasty, and members who voted against Jones had nice things to say about him. But there was a personal element: Years ago, when Jones was president and CEO of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp., he gave Johnson, 50, a job at the agency and helped him make political connections.

Now they faced each other for a job that Jones, 66, felt he had put in years of work to earn.

Jones had a few things going for him. Most significantly, he had endorsed Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker in this year’s Democratic primary, while Johnson had stayed neutral.

By all accounts, Parker never became directly involved in the president’s race. But over the summer she made comments during at least two political events that raised eyebrows in political circles as she conspicuously thanked Jones and Councilmember Mark Squilla, another candidate for president, without mentioning Johnson.

Having a Council president on the good side of the next mayor can be a boon for members, who want to see the administration invest in their districts and endorse their priorities.

Additionally, Jones, who was first elected in 2007, is poised to become the most senior Democrat in a Council that will be remarkably inexperienced next year.

Jones appeared to be off to a decent start with the support of Councilmember Jimmy Harrity, a confidant of Democratic City Committee Chairman Bob Brady, and the presumed backing of Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, a progressive whose West Philly district shared a border with his and whose sister, Samantha Williams, worked in Jones’ office before being appointed to the Common Pleas Court this year.

But even early on, there were signs that Jones was not going to be able to lock down enough support. Johnson, for instance, was able to quickly win over Councilmember Cindy Bass, who got her start in the same political organization as Jones.

And then there was Councilmember Anthony Phillips, who was Parker’s chosen successor on Council and who some expected to back someone who endorsed her mayoral run. But Phillips, it turned out, had a yearslong relationship with Johnson and provided a key vote for him.

Throughout their summer break, many members resisted committing to one candidate or the other. But as lawmakers returned in September, Johnson’s bid picked up momentum.

One key factor was that Johnson was seen as the preferred candidate of organized labor. He has long been a champion for the priorities of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union. And he was also widely assumed to be the favorite of the politically powerful building trades unions.

Ryan Boyer, the chair of the Building and Construction Trades Council and a key backer of Parker’s mayoral campaign, said throughout the race that he was staying neutral.

“We weren’t lobbied by those individuals, but it was very clear to all of us just through our interactions with them that the building trades were for Kenyatta,” one member said.

» READ MORE: Many of Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson’s fellow lawmakers stood by him from indictment to acquittal

Few members had qualms about Johnson’s legal woes, and many of his colleagues stood by him during his corruption case, in which he was acquitted after federal prosecutors accused him of accepting a bribe in the form of a consulting contract for his wife. Some, however, said they had concerns about whether voting for Johnson would attract negative press.

But it appears that Johnson won on more practical concerns. He is known as an attentive collaborator and as a colleague who takes a position and sticks to it. Jones, on the other hand, was seen by many as experienced and well-meaning, but also aloof and difficult to pin down.

”This came down to what I call hand-to-hand combat, strictly working with individual Council members on my own merit,” Johnson said.

Some more junior members said they were keen to support Johnson due to his outreach to them while they were settling into their new positions. One member, for instance, said Johnson’s office sent them binders with tips on where to get office supplies and how to draft legislation.

It’s difficult to say when Johnson got his ninth vote and secured a majority. But most believe it was when Gauthier, who had gone from being seen as a likely Jones backer to avoiding a commitment, signed on to support Johnson in early October.

She was followed by Councilmember-elect Rue Landau, whom Jones had helped win this year’s Democratic primary.

The winners of all but three of Council’s 17 seats were effectively decided in the primary.

That meant Jones and Johnson needed to win nine votes out of only 14 members in order to end the race before the Nov. 7 general election, and many expected the outcome would be undetermined until the three remaining Council members-elect weighed in.

But Johnson got more than nine without needing those members, and The Inquirer reported he had secured a majority in October.

By then, Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson had already secured the votes to become Council’s next majority leader, the No. 2 position. The whip, who is next in line, will be Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, and Bass will retain her position as deputy whip.

On Election Day, Johnson attended Parker’s victory party. She cajoled him to the front of the stage during her speech and recognized his victory, which he had not yet publicly acknowledged.

“Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, are you here? Are you here, Councilmember? I think you should come stand next to me while I’m talking about this part,” Parker said. “I know it makes for good theater, I will call it, to see a City Council and a mayor not get together, not be able to move this city forward by working in a collaborative way. But if it’s God’s will, we are not going to use that as our strategy.”

Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.