Philadelphia’s Helen Gym is focused on her city. Progressives see a national star on the rise

Helen Gym does not want the story of her campaign for mayor of Philadelphia to be told as a referendum on the state of the national progressive movement.

But for many allies and supporters, in the city and across the country, that view has become increasingly welcome. Gym’s dynamism, decadeslong history of activism and more recent successes grinding through legislation as a city council member make the 55-year-old daughter of Korean immigrants an ideal candidate, they believe, to lead Philadelphia – and also to highlight the movement’s strategic reset and recent successes at the local level.