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Who won on Election Day? And, 7 people who could run for Philly mayor in 2023 | Morning Newsletter

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The big takeaways from Election Day: Jim Kenney cruised to victory in his reelection bid, Democrats took control of Delaware County, and a Working Families Party candidate scored a historic win in the race for Philadelphia City Council. And, along with that, we have started to examine who could be Philadelphia’s next mayor when Kenney’s second term ends in early 2024 (or, potentially, even earlier).

In non-politics news, Tioga residents whose homes were damaged during the police shootout in August started to get them repaired yesterday.

— Josh Rosenblat, Ray Boyd (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney coasted to victory on Tuesday night. His win came after months of avoiding the campaign trail while ignoring his GOP opponent. That means he never had to outline a clear plan for a second term. So, what will four more years of Kenney look like for Philly?

Meanwhile, Philly politics will look somewhat different as the Working Families Party succeeded in its mission to carve out space on City Council. And in Delaware County, Democrats pulled off something they hadn’t done since the Civil War.

Get caught up on all of the results out of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania suburbs, and New Jersey:

Kenney’s easy win on Tuesday night means the 2023 mayor’s race has begun. Who could be next? The focus starts in City Council, where incumbents who won reelection yesterday are seen as possible contenders. Plus, another city government official could be a successor.

It’s possible that Kenney could upend political calculations and timetables if he runs for governor in 2022, a year before his term is slated to end. The Inquirer recently reported that he’s considering the move, which would require him to resign in the middle of his newly won term.

What you need to know today

  1. It’s been more than two months since the largest mass shooting of Philadelphia police officers in decades. And yesterday, those whose homes were damaged in the shootout finally got them repaired.

  2. Environmental groups no longer back Philadelphia’s plastic bag ban because of the removal of a proposed fee in the potential policy.

  3. A Navy Yard worker posted racist threats on Facebook and was charged with lying to the FBI about his ties to white nationalist groups. A judge will decide whether a long record of using racist language and online harassment makes him a “safety risk or just another blowhard with an internet connection and extremist views.”

  4. Winter is coming. And I mean this literally, not as a callback to Game of Thrones.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

🤔I wonder who won. Great shot, @ninthdayofmarch.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

That’s Interesting

  1. The 76ers are the tallest team in an NBA driven by guard play. Can they win a title that way?

  2. Why aren’t more small businesses hiring veterans? The responsibility falls on both parties.

  3. A pediatrician who serves children of color discovered his implicit bias. Here’s what he’s doing about it.

  4. A Chester County woman was charged with netting more than $10,000 in a fund-raising scam in which she falsely claimed she had cancer and needed money.

  5. Have you ever taken a group exercise class? They’re so effective because of the psychology behind working out with others.

  6. A New Jersey lawmaker has introduced a bill that would force TV providers such as Comcast to include hidden fees in their advertised prices.

Opinions

“The fact is that neither my people nor the people flipping us off with OK boomer want to own the existential fear of seeing ourselves in each other. Isn’t such a realization a place where hope for the future goes to die? Thus, millennials say OK boomer, and boomers brand these younger generations’ breathtaking digital dexterity and their hyper-fluency in the popular and political cultures as superficial. Just as we did when we were their age." — columnist Kevin Riordan writes about being a baby boomer who’s totally fine with the “OK boomer” phenomenon.

  1. Inquirer columnist Mike Newall writes about what he wants to see from Mayor Kenney in his second term.

  2. In her latest column, The Inquirer’s Helen Ubiñas writes about what happens when the people on the front lines of gun violence burn out.

What we’re reading

  1. Billy Penn had an interesting Election Day story on how Relish became Philly’s go-to power lunch spot on voting days.

  2. A man was taken off of life support after discussions with the family that gathered around him. It turns out they weren’t his family, reports ProPublica.

  3. A HuffPost investigation explores the nature of hate in America and focuses on how much weight one phrase in particular carries.

Your Daily Dose of | Art

A year ago, Kambel Smith was virtually unknown. Now Smith, an artist who has autism, sells his work for $25,000 and has a Center City show. He makes complex sculptures of buildings out of cardboard.