Derek Green

Derek Green (Democratic Party) was an at-large member of the Philadelphia City Council in Pennsylvania. He assumed office on January 4, 2016. He left office on September 6, 2022.

Green (Democratic Party) ran for election for Mayor of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on May 16, 2023.

Biography

Green received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law. His professional experience includes serving as special counsel to City Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco, counsel to the Finance and Public Health and Human Services council committees and manager and counsel on several campaigns. He has also been a Philadelphia deputy city solicitor, assistant district attorney and assistant deputy attorney general for the State of Delaware.^[1]

2023 battleground election

See also: Mayoral election in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (May 16, 2023 Democratic primary)

Cherelle Parker defeated eight other candidates in the Democratic primary for mayor of Philadelphia on May 16, 2023. She faced David Oh—the only candidate who ran for the Republican nomination—in the general election on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Jim Kenney (D), who was first elected mayor in 2015 and re-elected in 2019, was term-limited.

The city's last 10 mayors were all elected as Democrats, and the last Republican to serve as mayor was Bernard Samuel, whose term ended in 1952. Jeff Brown, Allan Domb, Helen Gym, Parker, and Rebecca Rhynhart had led in fundraising and media mentions.

Parker was elected to the city council in 2016 and served until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. She began her political career as a city council staff member and served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2005 to 2016.^[2] Parker was elected the council's majority leader in 2020.^[3] Her website said, "It was in this role where she focused on public safety, stabilizing “middle neighborhoods,” economic opportunity – especially for small businesses, and working to get city government to function like it should."^[4]

In the three Philadelphia mayoral elections since 1999 that did not have an incumbent, the winner of the Democratic primary received a majority of the vote once—Kenney's 56% in 2015. Michael Nutter won the Democratic primary in 2007 with 37% of the vote and John Street won the Democratic primary in 1999 with 36% of the vote.

Marcus Biddle at WHYY wrote before the election that, "Most candidates are making public health issues like gun violence a campaign priority. How they plan to solve those problems is another story...Improving major public health issues in Philadelphia — the gun violence crisis and the opioid epidemic among them — could be a deciding issue for many voters in the city’s mayoral race...As for the city’s gun violence crisis, most candidates agreed that improving and expanding access to behavioral health support, therapy, and trauma treatment is an urgent need."^[5]

Rhynhart was elected Philadelphia City Controller in 2018 and resigned in 2022 to run for mayor. She was a former director at Fitch Ratings and managing director at Bear Stearns.^[6] Rhynhart was appointed Philadelphia City Treasurer in 2008 by former Mayor Michael Nutter, and also served as the city's Budget Director and Chief Administrative Officer under Mayor Jim Kenney. Rhynhart's website said that her time spent in the city's various financial roles was important: "She used her financial expertise to expose wasteful spending and make government work more effectively with an emphasis on equity, fairness and social justice. She has shown courage in refusing to back down from tough fights in order to serve Philadelphia."^[7]

Gym was elected as an at-large member of the Philadelphia City Council in 2015 and served until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. She was the former executive director of Asian Americans United and the co-founder of Parents United for Public Education, which described itself on its website as "a parent-led citywide organization focused on providing an independent voice for parents fighting for public education."^[8] Gym said she ran for mayor "to finish a job I started 30 years ago, when I was a teacher and a tough Philly mom who refused to accept broken systems, took on tough challenges and organized alongside communities for change."^[9]

Before the primary, Anna Orso, Sean Collins Walsh, and Julia Terruso wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer: "To be clear, all of the major candidates will likely get at least some votes from every pocket of the city. But winning candidates typically have a strong base that they build out from...Rhynhart and Gym are both vying for liberal Center City voters, and Domb and Brown both probably need strong margins in the Northeast if they are going to win. And don’t forget about turnout. While Parker appears to have little competition for establishment-aligned Black voters, their share of the electorate has decreased over time, meaning she, too, will have to expand beyond her base to be successful."^[10]

Domb was elected as an at-large member of the Philadelphia City Council in 2015 and served on the council until 2022, when he resigned to run for mayor. He was a realtor and founded a real estate agency. Domb said he was "running for mayor because Philadelphia is in crisis and needs a leader who has the experience and vision needed to take on our biggest challenges."^[11]

Brown owned 12 grocery stores in the city and had never before run for elected office. He was endorsed by the city’s largest labor union, District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 9,500 workers.^[12] He told Axios he ran for mayor because "Philadelphia is an amazing city with great potential, but we have been failed by bad leadership. I want to be mayor to serve the people of our city, address structural poverty and make this the city we all deserve."^[13]

Philadelphia has had a resign-to-run rule in its city charter since 1951. According to Henry Savage of The Philadelphia Inquirer, "If you work for the City of Philadelphia or hold an elected position in city government, you have to quit your job first in order to run for another public office. The only exception is if you are an elected official running for re-election."^[14] Domb, Gym, Parker, and Rhynhart all held elected positions in the city until beginning their mayoral campaigns in 2022.

The filing deadline for the primary was March 8, 2023, and the filing deadline for the general election for independent candidates was August 1, 2023.

Elections

2023

General election

General election for Mayor of Philadelphia

Cherelle Parker defeated David Oh in the general election for Mayor of Philadelphia on November 7, 2023.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Cherelle Parker (D)	74.7	232,075
	David Oh (R)	24.4	75,677
	Other/Write-in votes	0.9	2,849

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 310,601
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Mayor of Philadelphia

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Mayor of Philadelphia on May 16, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cherelle Parker	32.6	81,080
		Rebecca Rhynhart	22.8	56,581
		Helen Gym	22.0	54,705
		Allan Domb	11.3	28,051
		Jeff Brown	8.8	21,868
		Amen Brown	1.3	3,321
	Submit photo	James DeLeon III	0.6	1,488
	Submit photo	Delscia Gray	0.2	582
	Submit photo	Warren Bloom	0.2	499
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	163

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 248,338
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mayor of Philadelphia

David Oh advanced from the Republican primary for Mayor of Philadelphia on May 16, 2023.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	David Oh	95.5	15,355
	Other/Write-in votes	4.5	730

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,085
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Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from candidates submitted to the City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics and Office Of The City Commissioners during the primary election.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. It also includes a bulleted list of links to official lists of endorsements for any candidates who published that information on their campaign websites. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please click here.

Democratic primary endorsements
Endorser	Jeff Brown	Helen Gym	Cherelle Parker	Rebecca Rhynhart
Government officials
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders ^source		✔
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) ^source		✔
Individuals
Frmr. Mayor Michael Nutter ^source				✔
Frmr. Mayor Ed Rendell ^source				✔
Frmr. Mayor John Street ^source				✔
Newspapers and editorials
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^source				✔
The Philadelphia Tribune Editorial Board ^source			✔
Organizations
District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ^source	✔
Working Families Party ^source		✔