With District Attorney Lynne Abraham’s retirement at the end of this year, Philly will lose one of its highest ranking female elected officials. And as evidenced by the options at the polls today, she will not be replaced by a woman. Six men are vying to take over her job, five Democrats and one Republican.
In many ways, Philadelphia government still seems to be a boys club. To date, only one woman – former council member Happy Fernandez – has launched a serious major party campaign for mayor. In 2007, five candidates ran in the Democratic mayoral primary, all men.
Currently seven of the 17 members of City Council are women. And the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas Pamela Dembe is female. But otherwise the local political establishment is largely male. And there are few women rising in the political ranks to run for DA or mayor in the coming years.
Meanwhile, women are already running the show in other cities. There’s Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin (a Philly native) or Mayor Sheila Dixon in Baltimore. Check out this list of the first female mayors.
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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