Linda Thompson’s stunning spring primary upset of Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed shocked an entire region. Her history-making general election coronation Tuesday as Harrisburg’s first African-American female leader astonished many who still considered her the unlikeliest of successors.

Even Reed, who endorsed Thompson’s first bid for City Council back in 2001, admitted he didn’t see Thompson’s rise to Harrisburg’s top elected post coming. “No,” Reed answered when asked if he thought before this year’s elections that Thompson would be the one to end his 28 years in office. “I never gave much thought to who would be the next mayor,” he said.

It turns out, however, that Thompson’s ascension through the ranks of city politics shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to anyone. She has been carefully positioning herself as a trusted change agent and an acceptable alternative to Reed since her earliest days on City Council, according to Thompson’s political colleagues and city observers.

Read the full Patriot-News article here

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