Find out from this article who Cherelle Parker is; a Philadelphia 100th Mayor. Also this article shares information about her married life.
On Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Cherelle Parker was elected as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor. As a result, she became the city’s first female mayor.
Parker, 51, won the May 16th Mayoral Primary against Republican David Oh after emerging from a large field of Democrats. She will take over for Democrat Jim Kenney, who could not run for re-election due to term limits.
Cherelle Parker’s pre-mayoral career
At age 17, Parker won a high school oration contest. The prize: An internship with Philadelphia City Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco, whom she’d go on to work for for around 15 years (with a short break to teach high school English in Pleasantville, NJ), from about 1995 to 2002.
In 2005, Parker became the youngest African American woman elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. There, she represented Northwest Philadelphia for 10 years and chaired the Philadelphia House Delegation. In the House, she worked to increase funding to Philadelphia public schools (through a statewide tax on cigarettes), cap increases on property taxes, fight payday lenders, and strengthen the cases of victims of sexual violence.
In 2015, Marian Tasco retired from Council, and Philadelphia’s Democratic City Committee chose Parker as her replacement. Parker took office as the 9th District Councilmember in 2016, representing the Northwest and Northeast neighborhoods of Mount Airy, West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Olney, Lawncrest, Lawndale, Burholme, and Oxford Circle.
On Council, Parker served as chair of the Labor and Civil Service Committee and vice chair of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. She became known for championing pathways to home improvements, fighting homeowner-impacting gentrification, opposing Mayor Kenney’s soda tax, and increasing community policing. In 2020, she became Council’s Majority Leader.
Is Cherelle Parker married?
Many people are curious about the identity of her son’s father and her marital status after she won the mayoral race. Let’s look into Cherelle Parker’s husband and her incredible victory as a Democratic mayoral candidate.
As of 2023, the new mayor of Philadelphia is not in a relationship. Cherelle Parker was previously married to Ben Mullins, and they have a 10-year-old son named Langston Mullins.
Cherelle Parker and Ben Mullins married in 2010 at the Enon Church on Coulter Street in Philadelphia.
More than 300 people attended the event, including Mayor Michael Nutter, State Representatives Jewel Williams, John Myers, and Ronald Waters, State Senators LeAnna Washington and Anthony Hardy Williams, and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller.
According to reports, City Councilmember Marian Tasco and State Representative Dwight Evans escorted the bride down the aisle.
Parker is frequently referred to as a “single mother,” but the reasons for this are complex.
Personal life of Cherelle Parker?
Parker grew up with her grandparents in Mount Airy. Her mother, who had her as a teen, died when Parker was 11. Parker was a cheerleader at Parkway Central High School and that oration contest win also earned her a trip to Senegal and Morocco.
She graduated with a B.S. from Lincoln University and a Master of Public Administration from Penn.
In 2011, then-state Rep. Parker was arrested for driving drunk in her state-issued car — the wrong way on one-way street in Germantown. She later testified that she was never on that street and disputed the officers’ account of the arrest. In 2013, she was convicted of the DUI and spent three days in jail.
Parker is the mother of Langston Mullins, whom she named after her favorite poet, Langston Hughes. Her ex, Langston’s father, is Ben Mullins, a leader in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Langston was 10 years old when Parker won the Democratic primary in May 2023, and Parker has jokingly referred to herself as an “OAM,” or old-ass mom, because she became a parent at age 40. The family lives in West Oak Lane.
