A day after resigning from Philadelphia City Council, Helen Gym announced her campaign for mayor, swelling an already crowded field of candidates.
Gym, a former school teacher, spoke to a packed audience at the William Way Community Center on Wednesday evening and outlined her vision for a "safe and more prosperous and healthy Philadelphia."
Gym is the seventh candidate for Philadelphia mayor, and the third woman vying for the job. The 54-year-old, two-term at-large member of Philadelphia's City Council enters the race as a proven vote getter and a darling of the progressive, left-leaning wing of the Democratic party.
In a city wracked with violence, including a historically bloody 2021 where more than 500 people were killed, Gym says her first order of business if elected will be to declare a state of emergency on crime. She also spoke about her efforts to address evictions in Philadelphia, a city she claimed has the fourth most evictions in the country. A collaborative program that she helped create by pulling city agencies together "slashed evictions by two-thirds and modeled in over 30 states.
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