Philadelphia's Mayoral Race Was the Revenge of the Black Moderate | Opinion

In recent years, progressive insurgents across the country have had a string of successes. Starting with New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's surprise victory over Democratic stalwart Joe Crowley, the progressive movement has been engaged in something of a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. Often deeming those who disagree with them as "The Establishment," progressives have been effective at pulling the party to Left on issues from abortion to immigration to policing.

But this week, the moderate wing struck back with a victory in Philadelphia.

Cherelle Parker, a moderate, "tough on crime" Democrat, won that party's nomination for Philadelphia mayor. Her chief rival in the primary, Helen Gym, was a progressive endorsed by both Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. Gym ended up placing third, an embarrassing result for a candidate that had most of the progressive establishment on her side.

But the lesson is larger than just this one race. Parker's winning coalition provides a blueprint to beat back progressive insurgents moving forward. Parker, a Black woman, was supported by Philadelphia's Black political power base and labor unions like the Philadelphia Building Trades Council and SEIU Local 32BJ, which also represent school workers and bus drivers. Parker was also supported by a Republican-leaning Super PAC that went aggressively after Helen Gym.

But the most important ingredient in Parker's success was surely the fact that Philadelphia has already been beaten down—severely—by progressive policies.

It was in the poor and working class areas of the city that Parker dominated, the areas most harshly impacted by soft on crime progressive policies that turn criminals loose on the streets. Voters in those areas made a clear statement that they want the restoration of safety to their city, and they viewed Parker as the conduit for that.

Parker promised to "stop the sense of lawlessness that is plaguing our city" by beefing up the police force, to the tune of hiring 300 officers, and even floated reinstating the controversial stop-and-frisk policy. I have mixed feelings about the policy, but Philadelphia's voters are understandably willing to try anything to stop the literal and figurative bleeding.

So much for Defund the Police. At a time of skyrocketing crime, voters most impacted by crime in Philly voted for the tough on crime candidate.

Meanwhile, it was the safest, wealthiest corners of the city that voted for Gym—further evidence that the marriage of progressive politics and rich whites might be a lasting one.

Philadelphia provides an interesting juxtaposition with Chicago and Los Angeles, where progressive candidates carried the day against moderates. A crucial difference is that in Philly, as in New York City's mayoral race two years ago, the moderate candidate was Black, whereas in Chicago and L.A., the moderate candidates were white, running against Black progressives.

But even while running against Black progressives, both Rick Caruso in Los Angeles and Paul Vallas in Chicago demonstrated that there is a constituency for sanity in big cities. Vallas received 48 percent of the vote in his race, while Caruso received 45 percent in his race. If the moderates in those races were Black, the outcomes would almost certainly have been different.

Parker's victory should serve as a wake up call to big city progressive mayors across the country. In Cleveland, a recent editorial went viral when it asked readers if our progressive mayor, Justin Bibb, was in danger of being "Lori Lightfooted" when he runs for reelection in 2025. If challenged by a Black moderate, the answer is yes.

This should be the strategy moving forward for any candidate who cares about the Black community and wants to free us from progressive policies that are hurting us and our children. Ironically, it would amount to using the progressive playbook against its proponents. In 2018, Politico explored how progressives were running an explicit and intentional strategy of putting up Black progressives for office in order to gain support from Black voters based on racial solidarity instead over policy, given that it's well known that most Black voters are not progressive; and only a third consider themselves liberal.

If the moderate wing of the Democratic Party begins to support Black candidates who are more in line with the actual views of Black voters and who can attract votes from other non-progressive groups as a result, that has the potential to beat back the progressive insurgency.

You defeat the "Black progressive" strategy with the revenge of the Black moderate.

Darvio Morrow is the CEO of the FCB Radio Network and co-host of The Outlaws Radio Show.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.