David Oh Is Not Successful In Mayoral Bid
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Last night, about 125 people gathered into the Emperor Restaurant on Red Lion Road. They hoped to see David Oh, become the 100th Mayor Of Philadelphia. It did not happen. As a computer screen was put up on a small stage, a staffer would refresh the election night results onto it via a laptop. Most of the early ballots were counted right away and it did not look good for Oh. There is no way to know what section of the city those ballots came from.
As the night wore on, Oh’s numbers shot up, to 20 then 25 percent of the vote and Parker’s came down a bit. Eventually David Oh would have to be content with 26 percent of the vote. It was not enough as Parker got about 74 percent. David Oh came into the restaurant about 9:00 PM and encouraged those there to stay positive. “This is a party. I’ve been in this position before and came out a winner,” he said.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com David Oh is greeted by well wishes.
Oh walked around the small crowd, shaking hands and posing for photos. He did not make his concession speech until about 10:45 PM. Mayor -Elect Cherelle Parker made her victory speech pretty early, before 10:00 PM from a union hall in South Philadelphia. Both candidates were running on reducing crime and improving schools.
David Oh was a long shot and he knew it. A republican has not been Mayor Of Philadelphia since the 1940’s. When asked what he was going to do, he stated “I have no plans for the future I don’t know.” Voters in the Northeast gave him strong support, as did people in South Philadelphia and portions of Port Richmond..