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REBECCA RHYNHART’S
ELECTION NIGHT PARTY
THAT NEVER QUITE MATERIALIZED
R Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer
ebecca Rhynhart started the Philadelphia
mayoral race as a former city controller
trying to make a name for herself by criti-
cizing the police department. She was neither
a wealthy businessman, like Jeff Brown or Allan
Domb, nor a city council member with a local follow-
ing, like Helen Gym.

But then, the Jewish woman surprised everybody.

The 48-year-old earned endorsements from three
former mayors in Ed Rendell, Michael Nutter and
John Street and the city’s newspaper of record,
The Philadelphia Inquirer. Less than a month before
the May 16 Democratic Primary, she held a small
lead over Councilwoman Cherelle Parker in a
much-hyped poll.

So, as she walked into her election night party
at Craft Hall in Northern Liberties, Rhynhart was
smiling, embracing her daughter and chatting with
the friends, volunteers and donors in attendance.

“Let’s hear it for the mayor!” shouted Street, who
was standing by a table near the entrance. The
crowd started cheering and clapping.

It was just after 8 p.m. The polls were closed
throughout Philadelphia County. Just like in that
pre-election survey, Rhynhart held a small lead,
less than 1,000 votes, over Parker with 23% of the
tally counted. Refresh after refresh of the webpages
of outlets like the Inquirer and 6abc showed the
Jewish candidate’s grinning profile picture at the top. Giant TVs all around the
beer hall, tuned into CBS Philadelphia, showed the same scoreboard.

But within an hour, the race turned. Successive vote dumps, from 23% to 38%
to 46% to 63%, gave Parker the top spot. And her advantage kept growing, from
around 9,000 votes to 11,000 to 17,000 to more than 20,000. Rhynhart disap-
peared from the bar area to go to a private room upstairs to consult with her
team. The people downstairs sipped their beers with long faces. Some filed out
the front door and into the warm spring night.

Sometime after 11 p.m., CBS Philadelphia showed a check mark next to Parker’s
name. It was over. Parker, not Rhynhart, had won the Democratic Primary, making
her the heavy favorite to become Philadelphia’s 100th mayor in the 80% blue city.

She will face Republican David Oh in the November general election. If she wins,
she will become Philadelphia’s first female mayor.

Shortly after the result came down, Rhynhart did, too. The people who
remained at Craft Hall, a large enough group to fill tables, cheered loudly. The
candidate put on a smile and walked to a podium set up at the front of the room
16 MAY 25, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
with her campaign’s decal on it.

With her husband, David McDuff, standing next to her, and her campaign
leaders on the other side, Rhynhart tried to pull off the most emotionally difficult
task in politics: the concession speech. She took a second to try to find the words
as the clapping continued. Then it died down and the floor was hers.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone. Obviously, this isn’t the outcome
that I wanted or that we wanted. But I want to say that I am really proud of …
the campaign and the way that all of us here came together to fight for a better
Philadelphia,” Rhynhart said.

The crowd clapped and hollered.

“Our campaign was about fighting against the Democratic machine and the
status quo of how things are done in Philly,” she said. “Change doesn’t happen
always the way you want it to. But that’s OK, because we’ll keep fighting.”
The people clapped and hollered again.

“I’m proud of the campaign that we ran,” Rhynhart continued later to more
applause. “I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being there for me. Thank