Wolf rallies labor voters and local pols in South Philly
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Local politicians may have outnumbered regular voters in the crowd when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf made an Election Day campaign stop this morning at Warmdaddy's in South Philly.
Tom Wolf is greeted by a bull-horn wielding Ronald Armour at a campaign stop in South Philly.
Jim Saksa
Jim Saksa
Local politicians may have outnumbered regular voters in the crowd when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf made an Election Day campaign stop this morning at Warmdaddy's in South Philly.
An extremely confident-looking Wolf was welcomed outside the restaurant by an ebullient man holding a bullhorn, Ronald Armour. Armour, a retired city worker and union member, approached the candidate and asked, "Mr. Wolf, what do you want us to do?"
Grabbing the bullhorn, Wolf responded, "Get out and vote!"
Inside the restaurant, Wolf spoke briefly before a crowd that included Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, IBEW President John Dougherty, City Commissioner Stephanie Singer, District Attorney Seth Williams and State Sen. Anthony Hughes. Congressman Chaka Fattah also showed up as Wolf was leaving. About two dozen local union members made up the rest of the crowd.
Wolf sounded relaxed in his remarks to reporters before heading in to talk to the Laborers' union. The rally stop was simulcast on 900AM-WURD.
When asked about his decision not to hand out walking-around money in Philly, as is custom, Wolf responded with a laugh "Yeah, that might be... different."
"I hope the voters will vote for me because they think I have good ideas, because I'll do better things for their lives and the communities," Wolf said. "I don't want them to vote for me because I've done something like that."
Wolf added that his campaign is working hard to encourage people to vote.
When asked if the lack of walking-around money would hurt turnout in Philadelphia, Wolf grinned and said, "I have no idea."
"You've seen all the polls I've seen, I think I'm pretty clinched in," Wolf added.
Dougherty added that voter turnout was running high in South Philly. "My daughter was 35 at 7:15 today. That's normally 3, 4, 5 at that hour," he said.
