2011 Philadelphia mayoral election
The 2011 Philadelphia mayoral election was held on November 8, 2011, to elect the mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Incumbent Michael Nutter had been Mayor of Philadelphia since 2008 after being elected in the 2007 election, and was re-elected with approximately 75% of the vote.[2] Primary elections were held on May 17, 2011.
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| Turnout | 20%[1]  9 pp | ||||||||||||||||
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 Results by ward Nutter: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Pennsylvania |
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Primary elections
On December 22, 2010, Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter officially announced that he would seek re-election.[3] With the backing of health unions [4] and the Black Clergy,[5] Nutter was favored by a wide margin to win re-election. His only challenger in the primaries was Milton Street, brother of former Mayor John F. Street, who announced his bid on February 17, 2011. Having spent time in federal prison for tax evasion, he described his plans to work toward finding jobs for convicts after their release.[6] John Street told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Nutter was "not a black mayor ... just a mayor with dark skin." Nutter said those comments were ignorant and said "I don't think anyone ever asked Ed Rendell was he white enough."[7] Nutter had been criticized for "stop and frisk" policies and service cuts.[8]
The Republican primary election saw two candidate vying for office. Real estate agent John Featherman filed in June 2010 to become eligible for the election so that he could fight against increasing taxes and to create a more "business-friendly climate" in the city.[9] In March 2011, former Democrat Karen Brown announced her bid to run as a Republican in the upcoming mayoral election.[10] Though she had numerous ties to the city Democratic party, she won the backing of the city Republican party at an event in late March.[11]
Primary elections were held on May 17, 2011.
| Primary elections held on May 17, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Primary Results[12] | Republican Primary Results[13] | |||||
| Candidate | Vote | Percent | Candidate | Votes | Percent | |
.jpg.webp) |
Michael Nutter (incumbent) |
76% | Karen Brown | 8,370 | 50.2% | |
 |
Milton Street | 24% | John Featherman | 8,305 | 49.8% | |
| Totals | Totals | |||||
| Source: Committee of Seventy: Mayor | ||||||
General election
Polling
The general election was held on November 8, 2011. With all but one precinct reporting, Nutter received 74.69% of the vote.[2]
Nutter's approval rating in February 2011 was 50%,[14] and in March 2011 was 52%.[15]
A hypothetical matchup poll conducted by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group between Nutter and Brown showed Nutter leading with 74%.[16][17]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Michael Nutter (incumbent) | 133,428 | 74.8 | -8.6 | |
| Republican | Karen Brown | 38,678 | 21.7 | +4.4 | |
| Independent | Wali Rahman | 6,341 | 3.6 | N/A | |
| Turnout | 178,447 | ||||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
References
- Denvir, Daniel (May 22, 2015). "Voter Turnout in U.S. Mayoral Elections Is Pathetic, But It Wasn't Always This Way". City Lab. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- "Philadelphia County - November 8, 2011 Municipal General and Special Election Unofficial Results". Retrieved February 11, 2012.
- Dunn, Mike "Nutter Announces He’ll Run For Re-Election", "CBS Philly", December 22, 2010, accessed May 7, 2011.
- MacDonald, Tom "Health union back Nutter's re-election" Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, "NewsWorks.org", May 3, 2011, accessed May 7, 2011.
- Odom, Vernon. "Black Clergy endorses Nutter's bid for reelection" Archived February 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, "6abc.com", February 7, 2011, accessed May 7, 2011.
- Gelbart, Marcia and Miriam Hill "Knox says he may run in mayoral primary; T. Milton Street Sr. announces candidacy", "Philly.com", February 17, 2011, accessed May 7, 2011
- http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Philly-Mayor-Facing-Unexpected-Primary-Challenge-121864254.html
- http://newamericamedia.org/2011/11/on-election-eve-philly-mayor-talks-tough-on-crime-race.php
- Hill, Miriam "Republican real estate agent John Featherman files for 2011 Philly mayoral election", June 16, 2010, accessed May 7, 2011.
- "Karen Brown Seeking Mayor As Republican", "My Fox Philly", March 5, 2011, accessed May 7, 2011.
- Waring, Tom. "GOP ward leaders back Brown for mayor", "Philly.com", March 31, 2011, accessed May 7, 2011.
- Gelbart, Marcia. "Nutter easily defeats Street in primary", "Philly.com", May 18, 2011, accessed May 31, 2011.
- Warner, Bob. "Brown wins Philadelphia GOP's mayoral primary", "Philly.com", May 28, 2011, accessed May 31, 2011.
- https://edisk.fandm.edu/FLI/keystone/pdf/keyfeb11_1.pdf%5B%5D
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Martinez, Vanessa. "Nutter outshines Street and Brown in favorability poll" Archived June 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, "newsworks.org", June 8, 2011, accessed August 5, 2011.
- Middleberg, Geoffrey. "Poll Shows Mayor Nutter Strong Against Potential Rival", "Politics PA", June 9, 2011, accessed August 5, 2011.
- "Elections 2011". NBC 10 Philadelphia. April 22, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.