Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

For Philly voters, crime was a big reason behind their choices for mayor

“I don’t know how anybody is going to fix it,” said Pamela West, 64, who cast her mayoral ballot for Helen Gym

George Mbiu, 54, a Northeast resident, voted for Helen Gym for mayor at the Aviation Institute on Grant Avenue on Tuesday. He said crime was a top concern, and described how he was nearly shot by a gunman who was shooting at someone else.
George Mbiu, 54, a Northeast resident, voted for Helen Gym for mayor at the Aviation Institute on Grant Avenue on Tuesday. He said crime was a top concern, and described how he was nearly shot by a gunman who was shooting at someone else.Read moreKristen A. Graham

For George Mbiu, who works driving a bus for the Philadelphia school system and a van for Temple University, crime is not an abstraction, an item to be ticked off on a list of top voter concerns.

It’s real and life-threatening.

In December 2021, he said, he was driving his van on 12th Street when a car traveling in the wrong direction suddenly blocked his way. The driver jumped out, drew a gun, and began firing at someone who was standing behind the van.

Mbiu, terrified, ducked behind seats as five shots whizzed past. He was physically unhurt but emotionally shaken, and remains fearful not just for himself but for the students he drives.

“Some neighborhoods, I would not step outside the bus,” Mbiu said Tuesday in an interview at his polling place, the Aviation Training Center near his home in Northeast Philadelphia. “When I’m outside, it’s not safe. … We cannot live like this.”

Mbui, 54, came to the United States as an adult from Kenya, and never misses the chance to vote. On Tuesday he ranked education and crime as the most important issues. He said he wants the next mayor to do more on both — and cast his ballot for Helen Gym.

» READ MORE: See the results for the 2023 Philadelphia primary

The Democratic primary arrived as Philadelphia continues to endure an epidemic of gun violence and death.

In 2022, for the third consecutive year, Philadelphia experienced historic levels of gun crime, subjecting thousands of people to the trauma of a crisis that’s claimed unprecedented numbers of lives.

This year, as of Monday, the city had suffered 152 homicides, down 14% from the same period in 2022. In 2022, 516 people were killed, in 2021 it was 562, and in 2020 it was 499.

Some voters despaired that a new mayor could have much impact.

“I don’t know how anybody is going to fix it,” said Pamela West, 64, who cast her ballot for Gym at Global Leadership Academy Southwest in West Philadelphia.

Voter Abdul Raheem said he has been on both sides of a gun.

As he walked into his Frankford polling place, Raheem, who was formerly incarcerated, said the next mayor must make crime the top priority.

“I’m tired of kids getting killed,” said Raheem, 51, a drug-and-alcohol counselor.

» READ MORE: A family buries a child on an Election Day shaped by gun violence

He planned to vote for Allan Domb or Rebecca Rhynhart, believing those candidates seemed most serious about reducing gun violence.

At Thomas Mifflin Elementary in East Falls, Susan McHale said she voted for Rhynhart for mayor, believing the former city controller to be fiscally responsible — and hoping she’d tackle crime.

McHale’s car was stolen a few weeks ago. The gun violence seems unending.

“The city is a mess,” she said.

Ernestine Banas, 54, who has a background in social work, also voted for Gym. She liked the candidate’s position that social workers, not police, should respond to people who are suffering mental-health emergencies.

“A lot of people nationwide are killed while they’re in mental-health crisis,” she said. “We need someone with my background to help those folks.”

Voter Fran Chambers said what the city needs is to hire more police.

Her husband agreed.

“We need the guns off the streets,” said Robert Chambers, who worked as an electrician. “If you take the guns away, a lot of this goes away.”

The East Torresdale retirees, both 70, voted with crime at the top of their minds, and both chose for Domb for mayor, casting their ballots at the Torresdale Boys Club.

Whoever becomes mayor must improve recreational opportunities for young people, the couple said.

“These kids who don’t have anything to do are now the kids who are shooting everybody,” said Fran Chambers, a retired drug-and-alcohol counselor who wants more money allocated to city-sponsored drug rehabilitation.

As Michael Fleming considered his vote on Tuesday afternoon, he thought about his three grandchildren. Then the 65-year-old West Philadelphia man cast his ballot for Cherelle Parker, voting at Global Leadership Academy Southwest, believing she would make the city safer.

“They’re young,” Fleming said of his 6-, 10- and 15-year-old grandkids. “I just want to look out for them. A new mayor to help them out. It’s dangerous out here.”