Shania Bennett, ex-Parker staffer, challenges former boss in Philadelphia mayoral race

Near the corner of Broad Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, Shania Bennett shakes hands with a daycare owner. The two talk about the smoke shop that opened nearby, and Bennett pops her head in the door to take a look around.

It's an area the 26-year-old knows well. Growing up nearby, Bennett said she used to hop on SEPTA at this intersection almost every day. But it's the same corner where her brother was killed in 2021.

 "He was a beautiful person. I kid you not. Beautiful," she said. "I watch how the lack of investment in this corridor, the crime that's happened here, ongoing. Things that just, kids that when they get out of school shouldn't have to deal with."

CBS News Philadelphia met with Bennett on this corner on Oct. 8, a little more than a week after she launched her bid for mayor.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old is the first to issue a challenge to Mayor Cherelle Parker, who is Bennett's former boss. Bennett served as the Parker administration's director of youth engagement.

While Bennett says she did see progress being made in certain areas, she didn't feel it was equally distributed across the city. She compared it to looking at a report card.

"If we're getting a trash thing right in South Philly, and it's an A, but it's an F in North Philly, our overall grade point average is going to be a D. If we're lucky, a C," Bennett said. "And so, I think when we look at Philadelphia from a quality of life standpoint, quality of life, protection of life, enhancement of life, I was like, we can keep our A's, A's, pull our bad grades up, and really focus on how Philadelphia holistically scores."

So far, Bennett has not released a full platform. But she told CBS News Philadelphia her campaign and messages will focus on three categories.

"All of my pillars will fall into quality of life, enhancement of life, and protection of life," Bennett said. "From businesses to moving away from just gun violence. When we're looking at gun violence, we're talking about access to jobs. We're talking about training our workforce."

Bennett also said she would want to create public dashboards showing how the city is working to solve problems.

"Let's take a pothole for an example," Bennett said. "I want people to see how many times that pothole has been reported. How long it took for it to be completed. And are people satisfied?"

Bennett's challenge is an uphill climb. No sitting mayor seeking reelection has lost in Philadelphia since at least the Home Rule Charter was passed in 1951. At 26, Bennett will be one of the youngest mayoral candidates the city has seen. It's something she acknowledges has come up.

"At first it was an issue," Bennett said. "And now that I've been outside, getting out of the echo chamber of social media, people are like, 'We want someone young. We want someone with fresh ideas. We want innovation.'"

As for experience, Bennett said she has worked in the offices of both state Rep. Jordan Harris and state Sen. Nikil Saval. She was elected a committee person in South Philly at age 18.

Bennett said, as mayor, she would lean on experts and what she hears from residents.

"I believe in myself. And I believe in the ability of me to be able to lean on other strong leaders and appoint strong leaders to the table to be able to make quality decisions to see the change we want to see, while also listening to the community."

CBS News Philadelphia reached out to representatives from Mayor Parker's campaign, who declined to comment for our story.

The 2027 primary election in Pennsylvania is slated for May 18.