Helen Gym is a distantly far-Left nut job, Save Jerseyans, but despite Philadelphia’s equally far-Left orientation, this purported “rising star” in national Democrat politics finished a distant third in Tuesday’s Democrat mayoral primary contest.
The winner (and presumptive next mayor) is hardly a conservative but perhaps wasn’t worst case scenario. We’ll see.
What happened? There’s plenty to analyze on the day after, but here’s one early observation: voters in the crime-besieged city seemed to split sharply along socio-economic lines. The wealthier liberals appeared measurably more interested in (or less turned off by?) Gym than the less-well-heeled Democrat residents who opted instead for the ultimate victor, Parker. Rich socialists and college kids formed the bedrock of Gym’s doomed coalition in an election that saw tepid turnout across the city.
Here’s the breakdown:
We'll say more on this later, but it's striking to see that Helen Gym got her highest share of support from the richest voters. (And so did Rhynhart). pic.twitter.com/H9gAwpBeri
— Aseem Shukla (@ashukla89) May 17, 2023
The parallels between Philly's Democratic mayoral primary results yesterday and NYC's in 2021 are unmistakable.
Check out the maps.
Black and Latino working class: Parker/Adams
Upscale liberals: Rhynhart/Garcia
Left-wing college grads: Gym/Wiley
White working class: Domb/Yang pic.twitter.com/2zyAMHdhXw— Daniel Marans (@danielmarans) May 17, 2023
A South Jersey angle?
Gym’s support base was outside of the city, and it included Congressman Andy Kim (D, NJ-03) of Moorestown who endorsed her back on May 4th.
“I support Helen because she embodies that sentiment that engagement matters, and she has inspired many people to roll up their sleeves,” Kim eexplained. “Helen represents a new generation of AAPI leaders that are focused on building coalitions and strengthening communities and I’m excited to see what more she can do for the people of Philadelphia.”
Philadelphians apparently didn’t agree.
