Record Number Turn Out To Support No One For Mayor

The city’s largest union, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, met last night to vote on an endorsement for mayor. The PFT is the city’s largest single-employer union, with 15,000 members living in the City of Philadelphia. It also has a reputation for mobilizing volunteers, holding phone banks, registering voters, etc.

So the endorsement’s pretty important. And 7,800 members showed up to vote en masse and pick the candidate they think would do the best job. Usually the vote attracts about 25 percent of the members; this time almost half showed up.

And everybody got together for mayor and picked the candidate who will do the best job:

For the first time since 1971, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has opted not to endorse a mayoral candidate in an open primary after a majority of members who cast votes in a referendum said that’s what they wanted. [...]

That was the choice for 2,418 members, nearly a third of the 7,799 who cast votes. It was more votes than garnered by any of the six candidates.

Whoo! The 2007 mayor’s race: Can you feel the excitement!

Teachers vote to endorse . . . no candidate [Inquirer]