2015 Philadelphia mayoral election

Summary

The 2015 Philadelphia mayoral election was held on November 3, 2015, to elect the Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, concurrently with various other state and local elections. Heavily favored Democratic party candidate Jim Kenney won.[2]

2015 Philadelphia mayoral election

← 2011 November 3, 2015 2019 →
Turnout21.84%[1] Increase
 
Nominee Jim Kenney Melissa Murray Bailey
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 203,730 31,563
Percentage 85.1% 13.2%

Results by ward
Kenney:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

Mayor before election

Michael Nutter
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Jim Kenney
Democratic

Incumbent Democratic party Mayor Michael Nutter could not run for re-election to a third consecutive term due to term limits in the city's home rule charter.[3] Registered Democrats hold a formidable 7-to-1 ratio over registered Republicans in Philadelphia, giving Democratic candidates a distinct advantage in citywide elections.[4]

The mayoral primary elections were held on May 19, 2015. 27% of the city's registered voters voted in the primaries.[5] Democrats nominated Jim Kenney, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, as their party's nominee. Kenney won the primary in a landslide with 55.83% of the vote, defeating a crowded field of five other Democratic candidates, including Anthony H. Williams and former District Attorney Lynn Abraham.[6] Republican Melissa Murray Bailey, a business executive, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.[6] Had she been elected, Bailey would have become Philadelphia's first female mayor, as well as the city's first Republican mayor in more than 60 years.[4]

Democratic primary edit

Candidates edit

Declared edit

Withdrew edit

Declined edit

Polling edit

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Alan
Butkovitz
Darrell
Clarke
James
Kenney
Frank
Rizzo
Milton
Street
Ken
Trujillo
Anthony
Williams
Refused
Public Policy Polling* May 27–28, 2014 916 ± 3.2% 12% 14% 7% 10% 4% 1% 2% 41%
22% 11% 67%
  • * Internal poll for the Alan Butkovitz campaign
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
James
Kenney
Anthony
Williams
Lynne
Abraham
Undecided Other
GBA Strategies* April 9–15, 2015 587 ± 4.1% 26% 25% 22% 18% 9%
  • * AFSCME poll for the James Kenney campaign.
Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
James
Kenney
Anthony
Williams
Lynne
Abraham
Milton
Street
Nelson
Diaz
Doug
Oliver
Undecided Other
Public Policy Polling* released April 6, 2015 644 ± 3.7% 26% 25% 20% 4% 3% 3% 19%
  • * Public Policy Polling poll for the James Kenney campaign.

Results edit

Democratic primary results[44]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic James F. Kenney 129,093 55.83
Democratic Anthony H. Williams 60,463 26.13
Democratic Lynne Abraham 19,430 8.40
Democratic Doug Oliver 9,823 4.24
Democratic Nelson Diaz 8,588 3.71
Democratic Milton Street 3,899 1.68
Democratic Write-ins 22 0.01
Total votes 231,418 100

Republican primary edit

Candidates edit

Declared edit

Declined edit

Results edit

Republican primary results[44]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Melissa Murray Bailey 12,486 99.69
Republican Write-ins 39 0.31
Total votes 12,525 100

Independent edit

Candidates edit

Declared edit

  • Rhashea Harmon, attorney and Republican nominee for the State Senate in 2010[47][48]

Declined edit

General election edit

Candidates edit

  • Melissa Murray Bailey – Republican Party
  • James Foster – Independent
  • Osborne Hart – Socialist Workers Party
  • Jim Kenney – Democratic Party
  • Boris Kindij – Independent

Results edit

2015 Philadelphia mayoral election[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jim Kenney 203,730 85.36
Republican Melissa Murray Bailey 31,563 13.23
Independent James Foster 1,713 0.72
Socialist Workers Osborne Hart 1,234 0.52
Independent Boris Kindij 321 0.13
Write-in 103 0.04
Total votes 238,664 100.00
Democratic hold

References edit

  1. ^ a b "2015 General". Office of the Philadelphia City Commissioners.
  2. ^ "Jim Kenney elected mayor of Philadelphia". 6abc.com. November 4, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  3. ^ "Committee of Seventy – November 3, 2015 General Election". Seventy.org. November 3, 2015. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
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  5. ^ Otterbein, Olly (May 27, 2015). "Why Voter Turnout Sucked in Philly's Mayoral Race". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
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  7. ^ Vargas, Claudia (September 17, 2014). "Abraham to run for Mayor". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
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  27. ^ Kerkstra, Patrick (January 21, 2015). "Ken Trujillo Is Out of the Mayor's Race". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
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  29. ^ Hepp, Chris (January 12, 2015). "Darrell L. Clarke says he won't run for Phila. mayor". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
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  35. ^ a b Davies, Dave (February 12, 2015). "Katz for mayor – again?". NewsWorks. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
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  42. ^ Dunn, Mike (January 26, 2015). "Jonathan Saidel Decides Against 2015 Run for Philadelphia Mayor". KYW-TV. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  43. ^ Wigglesworth, Alex (November 5, 2013). "DA Seth Williams: I'm not running for mayor in 2015". philly.com. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  44. ^ a b "City Wide Election Results". Philadelphia City Commissioners Office. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
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  48. ^ a b c d e f Brennan, Chris (March 10, 2015). "GOP mayoral candidate six weeks ago was a Democrat". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  49. ^ Brennan, Chris (February 5, 2015). "GOP reaches out to Castille to run for mayor; he declines". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
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  51. ^ Brennan, Chris (February 12, 2015). "Phila. Republicans tried to draft PHA chief Kelvin Jeremiah to run for mayor". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
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