Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Shania Bennett was the director of youth engagement in Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a>\u2019s administration until she resigned in May. The mayor, she said, once treated her as a protege.<\/p>\n Now, Bennett, 26, says she plans to run against Parker<\/a> next year \u2014 the first candidate to publicly announce their intention to challenge the mayor\u2019s reelection bid in next May\u2019s Democratic primary.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, you have to be willing to hold people you love accountable,\u201d Bennett said in an interview Tuesday. \u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m the change that I want to see. I think a lot of Philadelphians [are] waiting on it.\u201d <\/p>\n She released a video on social media Tuesday announcing her campaign with the slogan, \u201cLeadership you can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n A Parker campaign spokesperson declined to comment. <\/p>\n Bennett, who lives in her native South Philadelphia<\/a> and graduated from Penn State<\/a> in 2020, said she resigned from Parker\u2019s cabinet in May after realizing the administration would not give her office the budget or authority it needed to accomplish its mission. <\/p>\n \u201dMy hands were tied. I couldn\u2019t do anything on behalf of young people,” she said. \u201cIt was an opportunity for me to put all of my passion into something I really believed in, just to end up disappointed.\u201d <\/p>\n In July, she posted on social media<\/a> that working for the administration was \u201cthe worst experience of [her] life\u201d and that she had quit after \u201cunprofessional harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n No Philadelphia mayor has lost reelection<\/a> since the city\u2019s Home Rule Charter was adopted in 1951, and Bennett has her work cut out for her if she wants to break that streak in her first run for office.<\/p>\n Parker, 53, has spent 21 years in elected office, and her campaign had more than $1.4 million in her campaign\u2019s bank as of May 4, according to her most recent campaign finance report.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: No Philly mayor has lost reelection in modern history. So does Mayor Parker have anything to worry about?<\/a><\/p>\n Bennett said she has not yet put together a campaign team and is still ironing out her policy platform. She plans to conduct listening sessions so she can craft proposals that address Philadelphians\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me see the things you want me to talk about as a candidate,\u201d she said. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen a candidate that really reflects the people\u2019s choice in Philadelphia.\u201d <\/p>\n Bennett said she was alarmed by last weekend\u2019s \u201cteen takeovers,\u201d when police officers arrested three people after confrontations erupted between large groups of teenagers who congregated near City Hall on consecutive nights<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just young people acting out, and we have to get to the root cause,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cIs what we\u2019re funding effective, and is it giving us the outcome that we want?\u201d<\/p>\n Parker, a moderate Democrat with strong support among the local party establishment, is seen by some as potentially vulnerable to a challenge from a progressive politician such as District Attorney Larry Krasner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bennett said her platform will reflect the problems facing the city, not ideology. <\/p>\n \u201cSome of it might be progressive, but some of it might be: You have to put your foot down,\u201d said Bennett, who founded the anti-violence nonprofit Reach4Peace as a teenager. \u201cPhilly has some unique challenges. It is not one party or one ideology that can fix them.\u201d <\/p>\n