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Anthony Williams Potentially Gearing up for Philly Mayoral Run

Anthony WilliamsHe’s not getting in yet, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be prepared.

State Senator Anthony Williams has been eyeing Philadelphia’s City Hall for years but a recent hire indicates the lawmaker is seriously considering entering the 2015 race.

According to Claudia Vargas of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sen. Williams has hired 270 Strategies to advise his potential campaign. The state Senator made the announcement to a group of local officials he hopes will back him including: City Council members Curtis Jones, Jannie Blackwell, and Kenyatta Johnson; District Attorney Seth Williams; former mayoral candidate Tom Knox; and Ryan Boyer, business manager of the Laborers’ District Council of Philadelphia.

“You need someone who can build coalitions. That’s the point of this room. … You had labor sitting next to big business in this room,” Williams told the Daily News. “Today was the first gathering of significant folks who have surrounded me over the last few years to say, ‘We’d be interested in you running for mayor,’ and to reveal to them what we’ve been working on.”

270 Strategies was co-founded in 2013 by Obama campaign alums Jeremy Bird and Mitch Stewart. Each man garnered attention as field directors during the Obama 2008 campaign. Stewart oversaw the candidate’s landmark win in the Iowa caucus while Bird directed his landslide victory in South Carolina primary. They would both go on to lead the President’s vaunted field operations in 2008 and 2012.

These latest moves are the clearest sign yet that Williams intends to seek the mayoralty next year.

The son of State Sen. Hardy Williams (who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Philadelphia himself in 1971), Anthony Williams served in the State House from 1989 to 1998 before elevating to his father’s Senate seat in 1999.

Williams ran in the Democratic primary for Governor in 2010 but came in third. He won Philadelphia, though, with over 51% of the vote.

He is up for re-election this year in his State Senate seat but won the Democratic primary unopposed and currently faces no opposition in November.

4 Responses

  1. Anthony Williams would make a very good mayor for the city of Philadelphia.

  2. Stick a fork in any chance the philly schools have to ever improve if this guy gets elected. His “Students First” cronies will make sure that his #1 priority is to siphon off tax money to enrich their private education companies.

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