Brown anticipates ‘uphill battle’ against Nutter

Despite much chatter since the May primary, no major independent challenger to Mayor Michael Nutter stepped forward before the petition filing deadline this week. So the race is the incumbent Democrat versus the little-known GOP challenger.

 

Although people such as former Mayor John Street were mentioned as potential independent candidates, the names on the November ballot will be just Michael Nutter and Karen Brown.

Brown says the media has a bad habit of under-covering female candidates. This, she says, makes her uphill climb in a city with a huge Democratic registration edge that much steeper.

“Women do not get the same shake that men do when they run for office,” said Brown. “I’ve run women candidates and now I am one myself, it’s an uphill battle because you are a woman.”

While her name will be on the ballot’s Republican line, she said she is a candidate without a party for many reasons.

“I was a Republican and a Democrat,” she said. “It’s funny, the Democrats see me as a Republican and the Republicans see me as a Democrat, so where do I belong? I guess they can’t figure it out and neither can I. I don’t classify myself as a party, I classify myself as a woman.”

Brown hopes for debates with Nutter to describe how she intends to run the city better. A Nutter representative said the mayor will consider debate offers.