Jim Kenney Makes It Official: He's Running For Mayor of Philadelphia
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Less than a week after resigning his City Council seat, Jim Kenney formally launched his run for mayor of Philadelphia -- and City Hall was the venue.
The "Kenney for Mayor" campaign kicked off by renting the mayor's reception room and then packing it with supporters.
And the newly minted candidate said that if elected, he wants to change what he sees is an attitude of complacency in Philadelphia, which he called the "Philly Shrug."
"It's that (attitude), 'We can't do this because, well, we just can't. Schools are bad, well, we can't fix 'em, just can't do it.' I want to eliminate the Philly shrug from our vocabulary, and I want to be the can-do city we all know we are," Kenney said.
He laid out some of his goals should he be elected mayor, including city funding for pre-kindergarten for all three- and four- year-olds.
"If we can't find the money to spend on these children and we find it for all these other projects, we should be ashamed of ourselves," he said.
So, Kenney is now in a field of what is expected to be six candidates for the Democratic primary for mayor this coming May.
Earlier this week, campaign finance statements were unveiled showing Kenney with less than $100,000 raised. But in comments to reporters after his announcement today, he said his fundraising in the past week has been very productive -– though he refused to give a figure.
"Things are actually picking up momentum, and I have no doubt that we're going to be in a good spot when it comes to starting getting on TV," he said today.
Kenney will now face three announced candidates -– state senator Anthony Williams, former Philadelphia DA Lynne Abraham, and former city solicitor Nelson Diaz -- along with two others who are on the verge of announcing: Doug Oliver and Milton Street.
