Philly Mayor Jim Kenney is campaigning for Elizabeth Warren in New Hampshire. ‘It’s nice to get out of your city sometimes.’
“It’s beautiful here and it’s not as cold as they said it’d be,” Kenney told about a dozen residents gathered to hear him speak -- bingo cards already laid out on folding tables behind them.
He was there to stump for Sen.
“You still got the Liberty Bell?” one resident asked.
“Yeah, we still have it," Kenney responded.
After chatting for about 30 minutes, Kenney pulled on a parka for a walk through downtown
Being a political surrogate can be a bizarre exercise in humility. Surrogates act as stand-ins to cover more ground for the candidates they support, to show the breadth of a coalition, and in some cases, to use their star power to draw audiences. It’s unclear how effective they are in actually converting voters to a candidate -- but in the critical three weeks leading up to the first votes in
Among the people stumping this week: Rep.
Even non-senators are deploying more surrogates in the final sprint. Pennsylvania State Rep.
Kenney, the highest profile mayor to endorse Warren, also stumped for her in
In nine hours stumping in the state, he kept busy but never spoke to a group larger than 12 people. He spent call time dialing up
At one stop he spent close to 25 minutes talking to a woman who owned an environmentally friendly boutique. By the end of the conversation, she remained undecided.
But in
“I liked him. I did,”
For a mayor known to sometimes scowl at the day-to-day politicking required of him in his own city,
“It’s nice to get out of your city sometimes. Everyone’s always at you for something, complaining about something,” Kenney told the seniors in
Throughout the day, Kenney talked about common issues across the two states, like opioids - several residents said they had family members struggling with addiction - and health care. In promoting Warren he talked about the many women in his own cabinet and recently appointing a female police commissioner,
He told residents about the recent passing of his own father and wanting his 80-year-old mother to feel secure, tying it back to Warren’s plan to expand
When Kenney endorsed Warren in October, he said it surprised some people in the state who assumed he’d back Biden, who is headquartered in
“I’m a 61-year-old white guy. Everyone thought I was gonna be with Biden,” Kenney said while stumping. “I just thought something different is necessary.”
He said in an interview that he thinks Warren can appeal to people much in the way he does. “I think the one thing, good and bad, about me - whether I’m angry or whether I’m happy - it’s authentic and I think people see her authenticity and respond to it.”
Kenney’s not a hard-ask kind of surrogate. In conversations, he never overtly asked people to vote for Warren, just chatted while wearing her button.
At one point a local reporter asked Kenney about his subdued vibe.
“I’m doing my best within my little ability to do it,” Kenney said, shrugging. “I wouldn’t call myself this huge celebrity where people are gonna flock to me when they don’t know who I am.”
By the end of the day, Kenney had visited three nursing homes, two small businesses and the
His gentler touch seemed to work at the three senior centers where Kenney spent most of his day. While a few in the crowd dozed off or walked out early, two people said they’d vote for Kenney if he were running.
I tagged along with Mayor Kenney as he hit the campaign trail in
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The most asked question of the day was whether Warren’s more progressive stances would alienate fellow legislators or moderate voters.
Could she really get anything done in a divided
“In 24 years as a legislator, I’ve learned there’s always some compromise, some amendment,” Kenney said. “You start out with guns blazing and you wind up getting 70-80 percent...you have to collaborate and I believe she has the ability to do that.”
That resonated with
Kenney was less convincing for
At his last stop, Kenney said he admired how seriously residents take their role as early presidential voters and noted he felt welcomed by people regardless of their political preferences.
“It’s different where I’m from,” Kenney said, “In Philadelphia, it’s blood sport.”
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