PHILADELPHIA—The 2025 general elections saw progressive Democrats win in locales around the country—from Maine to New York to Washington. Many political analysts described this trend as not only a rebuke of Trump’s far-right policies but also an indication of the direction voters would like the Democratic Party to go.
Newly sworn-in New York Mayor and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Zohran Mamdani centered affordability in his campaign to govern the city. Similarly, in Philadelphia, Nic O’Rourke, who is also a member of DSA and sitting city council member for Working Families Party (WFP), recently started a cost-of-living taskforce under his broader Affordable Philly Now initiative.
However, some of the city’s top Democratic Party leaders have signaled resistance to pivoting toward the kind of priorities advocated by Mamdani, O’Rourke and others. For example, in Mayor Cherelle Parker’s annual State of the City address, she touted her administration as “the most pro-labor” in the city’s history, yet she notably neglected to mention WFP Council Member Kendra Brooks and her labor legislation, the POWER Act, which was signed into law in May of last year.
Interestingly however, Parker did specifically give a shout-out to U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and State Sen. Joe Picozzi, two Republican legislators who both have faced criticism from constituents on issues such as healthcare and public transit.
While Mayor Parker has chosen an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to political figures to her left, other top Democratic leaders plan to actively combat the growing progressive movement. Last month, party officials held a meeting at a West Philly restaurant to discuss these future plans.
Notable attendees included Council Member Cindy Bass, who was nearly unseated in 2023 by progressive Seth Anderson-Oberman, and State Sen. Sharif Street, who is a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, competing with progressive candidate State House Rep. Chris Rabb, among others.
A source who requested anonymity and was privy to the discussions that took place at the meeting told People’s World that they were shocked by what was said by top Democratic Party leaders. They explained: “The tone of the meeting led me to believe that much of the animosity towards progressives in the city is personal rather than political,” with them viewing progressives as outsiders wanting to “take” their positions and whom they don’t consider “real” Democrats.
One attendee, the source said, even associated progressives with being renters and insinuated that those who rent do not deeply care for their communities. In actuality, Philadelphia renters tend to stay in their communities. The city had the second highest lease renewal rate in 2025, at 77.3%, and large landlords saw steep decreases in lease turnover, going from 50% to 30% in 2025 alone.
The source also told People’s World that the attendees conceded that progressives are beating them in one critical aspect of organizing: door-knocking. One attendee stated that they needed to return to this basic organizing task and could no longer “be invisible,” acknowledging that many of Democrats are not talking to their constituents.
Conversely, WFP and Reclaim Philadelphia—two organizations who were mentioned as main progressive opponents for the Democrats, are creating neighborhood canvassing efforts with their Election Captain program, which encourages Philadelphians to door-knock during election season.
This election cycle would not be the first time the Democrats clashed with WFP over political influence. In fact, in 2023 the Democrats kicked many of their own sitting party committee members out of their positions because they supported WFP candidates for City Council.
The move was seen by some as bizarre and, again, seemingly more personal than political, considering that WFP candidates were, for all intents and purposes, contesting seats that were not likely to go to Democrats anyway.
Specifically, two at-large council seats are reserved for members of a minority party and with Philly being a deep blue city, there was little to no chance that the Democrats would not wind up as the majority party on City Council—meaning the contest for those seats could only be between the GOP and WFP.
Despite the hemming and hawing that occurred at the restaurant meeting in West Philly, WFP earning those two council seats over the GOP is proof enough that the city’s electorate is eager and ready for progressive change. In fact, poverty and cost of living—issues currently being tackled primarily by the progressive lawmakers meeting attendees deemed “outsiders”—were ranked as two of the top issues for Philly voters in 2025, at #2 and #3 respectively.
Progressive policies such as increasing the minimum wage or growing union representation would tackle these challenges facing Philadelphians and have high support in the city. What’s clear is that these policies don’t just represent the priorities of selective group of progressives, rather they are the political demands of working-class Philadelphians.
The movement for these policies is growing all around the country, including in Philadelphia. If this was not the case, anti-progressive Democratic leaders in the city would not have taken the time to meet and discuss it. The choice now is to recognize the political trajectory of working-class Democratic voters and join in the movement—or be rolled over as it marches forward.
The views reflected here are those of the author.
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