Philly elections: Nutter with comfortable win, but questions remain

Mayor Michael Nutter withstood an upstart campaign from Milton Street and breezed to the Democratic nomination last night on his way to a second term.

Nutter’s victory came despite poor turnout and union support for Street, who painted himself as the common man speaking for the forgotten less than a year after being released from federal prison for failing to pay taxes.

But the primary win doesn’t necessarily clear the field for Nutter, who weathered a financial crisis in his first term and saw reductions in violent crime. The margin of victory might invoke an independent run from Nutter nemesis and former mayor John Street, one observer said.

“For him to consider running as an independent, Nutter would have to have a pretty poor performance,” political consultant Larry Ceisler said earlier yesterday.

To T. Milton Street Sr., this was more than the right time for his grassroots charge at the mayor’s office. It was the only time.

“With no money, just out of prison, with everything happening in Egypt and the Middle East, people wanting change and fed up with government, everything lined up,” Street said yesterday morning. “The people have a dislike for what’s going on and I offered them solutions. If it
doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen ever.”

Frank Rizzo loses seat

For months, Republican City Councilman At-Large Frank Rizzo Jr. heard people hypothesize that his enrollment in DROP was such a hot-button issue that it might be the end of his public-service tenure despite having the best name-recognition advantage in Philly politics.

Whatever contributed to his demise, barring a late charge, Rizzo lost.

“It means a lot that the people who elected me believe in me; it’s important to me that they give me the benefit of the doubt,” he told Metro earlier yesterday. But, there’s nothing I can do to change the outcome.”

Council Election Results

Mayor (Democrats)

Michael Nutter – 76% «
Milton Street – 24%

Mayor (Republican)

Karen Brown – 50%
John Featherman – 50%
*too close to call (95% precincts reporting)

Council at-large (Democratic)

Bill Green – 14%
Blondell Reynolds Brown – 13%
Bill Greenlee – 12%
James Kenney – 10%
W. Wilson Goode Jr. – 9%

Council at-large (Republican)

David Oh – 18%
Dennis O’Brien – 17%
Joseph McColgan – 14%
Al Taubenberger – 13%
Michael Untermeyer – 12%

1st District Democrats

Mark Squilla – 41%
Joseph Grace – 23%

2nd District Democrats