November 04, 2015
The polls closed about 45 minutes before Jim Kenney took the stage at the National Museum of American Jewish History and delivered a mayoral-race victory speech to a couple hundred cheering fans on Tuesday night.
There, after being declared the winner in a five-candidate race that never really even pretended to be competitive – he captured 85 percent of the vote, according to unofficial tallies – Kenney spoke about his vision for the city’s future.
“It’s not what I’m going to do to move Philadelphia forward. It is what we are going to do together,” he said in a speech that clocked in at fewer than three minutes.
Kenney envisioned safer streets, providing teachers with the resources they need to be effective in their roles, making pre-K available to all of Philadelphia’s children, growing the city’s commercial corridors and welcoming returning citizens back from incarceration with the opportunity to succeed.
“Some will say these are lofty goals,” he said, noting that it was lofty to think this result would come about back when the campaign started in January. “But this campaign shows Philadelphia what can happen when people from all different walks of life work together.”
Then, he shouted out “environmentalists, feminists, teachers, working families, first responders, unions, public-school parents, clergy, LGBT community, immigrants and many others” who supported him.
“Together, these groups did far more than just elect a new mayor,” he said, returning to a common theme throughout the campaign. “They proved that every neighborhood matters.”
Kenney will host his first media availability as mayor-elect on Wednesday morning. PhillyVoice will be there to tell you what he has to say.
