FILE - Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker speaks at at Philadelphia International Airport, Feb. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. Thousands of Philadelphia city employees are back in their offices full time after a judge rejected a union's request to block Mayor Parker’s requirement that they return. (Associated Press)

CHICAGO — Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker turned Tuesday morning's Pennsylvania delegation breakfast at the Democratic National Convention into a pep rally for Vice President Kamala Harris and other members of the party on the November ballot.

"Did y'all know the mayor of Philadelphia used to carry pompoms?" she asked the crowd of about 200 people. "I was a cheerleader for a little group called the Oak Lane Wildcats."

Parker led the group in chants as they picked over eggs at the Palmer House in downtown Chicago, and she modified some of her Philly-centric campaign slogans for the statewide audience, saying Pennsylvania will become "the safest, cleanest, greenest — you know — commonwealth in the nation."

"Turnout for us is the key," Parker said. "Pennsylvania knows what it's like to win a close election. We've been here before. We're not losing this. We know what it's like to deliver under immense pressure."

Parker does not have a speaking slot at the DNC itself but is talking with several groups while in Chicago, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Emerge, a group that works to boost Democratic women of color who are running for office.

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson followed Parker at the breakfast.

"Character is on the ballot," he said. "Democracy is on the ballot."

He referenced former President Donald Trump's recent comments at a campaign stop in Northeast Pennsylvania that "if you win Pennsylvania, you're going to win the whole thing."

"A couple days ago, the orange guy came to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., but he did say something that was very profound," Johnson said. "Pennsylvania will determine the next president of the United States."

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