Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who made history as the first Black woman to lead the city, had a night to remember at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
As a special guest in Vice President Kamala Harris’ VIP suite, Parker was deeply inspired by Harris’ acceptance speech as the Democratic nominee for president.
Amid the event’s buzz, Parker connected strongly with Harris’ message about using the government to create opportunities for everyone.
Parker echoed this sentiment: “It’s not about giving anyone anything. It’s about using government as a tool to create access to opportunity.”
This reflects Parker’s mission to bring “economic opportunity for all” to the people of Philadelphia.
Parker was particularly impressed by how Harris spoke honestly and directly about the idea of an “opportunity economy,” which ties into everyday people’s real challenges and hopes.
After the speech, Parker commented, “It was connected — connected to real people and what they are going through in their daily lives.”
With the spotlight on them, the night was about shared goals and a moment of personal and political alignment between these two powerful women.
Making the night even more special, Parker was in Harris’ VIP suite with celebrities like Don Cheadle and Spike Lee, alongside political figures like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
In doing so, this showed just how close Parker and Harris are. Moreover, it also brought things full circle for Parker, who had hosted Harris at her Mount Airy home in 2020 when Harris was on her first campaign stop during the Biden-Harris run.
In turn, that event helped raise Parker’s political profile as she geared up for her 2023 mayoral race, and it also helped her build a strong connection with Sinceré Harris, who later became her campaign manager and is now one of her top deputies.
As Parker watched Harris’ speech, she couldn’t help but think about that day in 2020, a day she described as “packed with potential and pregnant with possibilities.”
The connection between these two women has grown stronger over the years. Each supported the other’s rise to power, and now they stand united in their shared goal of using the government to create opportunities for all.
While Parker reflected on her journey, another interesting development occurred at the DNC.
Craig Snyder, a Republican from Philadelphia and the leader of “Haley Voters for Harris” (HV4H), was also in Chicago.
Snyder knew he had to be at the DNC when Trump became the GOP nominee for 2024. He started HV4H to bring together Nikki Haley supporters and other anti-Trump Republicans to back Kamala Harris in the election.
HV4H, backed by PivotPAC, has been getting a lot of attention; even after getting a cease-and-desist letter from Haley herself, who’s now supporting Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention, the group isn’t backing down.
They’ve said, “We will neither cease nor desist,” determined to build a bipartisan coalition to support Harris.
And the DNC was a perfect place for HV4H to network and build connections. Snyder, who used to work for the late Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, stressed the importance of building a coalition.
“We wanted to really network with other people who are like-minded and continue to send the message, both inside the Democratic Party and outside the Democratic Party, that this is a coalition, and that a coalition is required in order to win this election,” Snyder explained.
The group’s strategy is to engage moderate Republicans, particularly in swing states like Pennsylvania, through targeted text messages, YouTube, and social media ads.
Following this plan, these efforts are set to ramp up after Labor Day, focusing on Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Snyder explained that their approach is highly targeted:
“This will not be something that everyone sees, but the people who need to see it, the people who benefit from seeing it, will see it a lot.”
With nearly 160,000 registered Republicans in Pennsylvania who had supported Haley during the primary, HV4H saw a big opportunity to convince these voters to back Harris.
Despite Haley’s endorsement of Trump, HV4H stayed committed to their cause and found a welcoming response from many Democrats at the DNC.
The group believed that the success of their campaign depended on having credible messengers—people who shared the values and history of the voters they were trying to persuade.
Former President Bill Clinton even thanked Republicans who supported Harris during his speech at the convention.
Snyder summed up HV4H’s approach with a simple but powerful saying: “Politics is about addition, not subtraction.”
This idea would guide their work as they aimed to expand Harris’ support by welcoming anti-Trump Republicans into her base.
As the DNC wraps up, Parker and HV4H leave Chicago with renewed determination. For Parker, the night reinforced her commitment to using the government to create opportunities.
For HV4H, it was a successful step in building the bipartisan coalition needed to support Kamala Harris in her historic presidential bid.
