(The Center Square) – During a joint appearance in Philadelphia on Monday, U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick both had positive words to say about Mayor Cherelle Parker.
“I think she’s great,” Fetterman, a Democrat, said in response to a question from The Center Square. “I mean 100%, I think she’s done a really great job.”
“She’s been willing to have the uncomfortable conversations,” he continued. “Traditionally, you know, that other mayors in the past haven’t been able to take that on.”
McCormick, a Republican, echoed Fetterman and said that he also likes the mayor, adding that he has a “good relationship” with her.
“I feel the same way,” McCormick said. “I know we work together to try to make sure she has support in Washington for the great city of Philadelphia.”
Despite campaigning in support of then-U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a fellow Democrat, in 2024, Parker and McCormick have had complimentary words to say about each other’s working relationship since he was sworn into office.
McCormick was with Parker on Sunday at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia to hear U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., deliver the sermon.
In April, McCormick posted a video on social media about the two meeting in Philadelphia for cheesesteaks at Del Rossi’s.
“We could be a whole lot worse off had it not been for you,” Parker said to McCormick in the video. “So, I’m grateful.”
“We’ve got a good partnership, you and I,” McCormick responded.
In the video, McCormick said the two had a great talk about “all the things we could do to work together to make sure we have safe streets and get rid of the drug problem in Kensington and do great things for Philadelphia to grow and create opportunity for every single Philadelphian.”
“I think you and I are working together for one Philadelphia, one great Commonwealth, and one great country,” McCormick said in the video.
“It’s the only way we will ever make it a more perfect union,” Parker responds. “We have to work together, and your partnership has been invaluable to our city.”
“And as mayor, I want you to know I’m grateful,” she continued. “Thank you, Senator.”
McCormick said that he felt the same way.
“We’re lucky to have a good mayor like her, someone I can work with,” McCormick said.
In February, Parker defended her governing style during a speech at an annual Black History Month luncheon at the Union League, which was sponsored by the Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest continuously published African-American newspaper.
When naming elected officials she’s worked with, Parker reportedly mentioned that she’s “gotten a whole lot of pushback” about working with McCormick and Fetterman.
“When you are fighting in a position that we are in right now, if you think you can alienate anybody…who can add value in one way or another to that fight… you’ve never had to sit where I have had to sit,” Parker said, according to Billy Penn. “It’s nice when you pick up the phone as mayor, and because you were kind to people, no matter what side of the ideological spectrum that they sat on, they still pick up the phone now, even in the midst of the storm. We want to maintain those kinds of relationships.”
“I don’t apologize to anyone for maintaining relationships with people who can help us advance our agenda here in the city of Philadelphia,” she said to applause, Billy Penn reports. “I don’t apologize for it.”
Forty-four percent of Philadelphians have a favorable view of Parker, according to a recent Suffolk University/Philadelphia Inquirer poll, while 35% say they have an unfavorable view of her.
In June 2025, McCormick offered praise to Parker for her administration’s efforts to combat drug addiction in Kensington.
“I was very impressed with what the mayor is doing,” McCormick said to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star about Parker’s initiative to address addiction. He made the comments after meeting with Parker to tour a substance abuse recovery center in northeast Philadelphia that aims to help people in the final stages of recovery.
In that same interview in June 2025, McCormick also lauded Parker and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel for their approach of enforcing the law and “disorder” in Kensington.
Parker, who was elected the city’s 100th mayor in 2023, will be up for a second term next year. Speculation has circulated in recent months about her potentially facing a progressive primary challenger for the office, including Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.
Krasner, who cruised to victory in 2025 for a third term as district attorney, has not said he is planning to run for mayor, but also hasn’t entirely ruled the possibility out for the future, according to NBC10.
While Krasner hasn’t said he is running against Parker, at least one prominent Democrat in the city believes he is gearing up for a challenge.
“He’s running for mayor,” Philadelphia Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady said recently to Independent Philadelphia-based journalist Claudia Vargas. “Picking a fight with me, picking a fight with Ryan Boyer, picking a fight with the mayor.”
Krasner has clashed with Brady, who has led the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s City Committee for decades, on a number of occasions since he was first elected district attorney in 2017.
Fetterman and McCormick were in Philadelphia on Monday in a rare joint appearance to promote “Trump Accounts.” Parker and Krasner were not present at this event.
Fetterman and McCormick were not asked about their relationship with Krasner, however, both senators and the district attorney have been critical of each other’s policy stances.
In an interview earlier this year with NBC10, Krasner accused Fetterman of betraying his entire base and cited Trump’s positive comments about the Democratic senator.
Fetterman, according to Krasner, is a “Republican in the time of MAGA” and described the betrayal as “reprehensible.”
Fetterman criticized Krasner earlier this year when the district attorney likened U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Nazis. Those comments also resulted in pushback from Gov. Josh Shapiro.
McCormick, who has publicly criticized Krasner for years, even mentioned the district attorney by name on his campaign website, saying that he has to “enforce the laws we have on the books.”
“It’s unacceptable that some of the cities with the most stringent gun laws have the highest violent crime rates because of a lack of enforcement by liberal prosecutors,” McCormick writes on his campaign website.
