Jamie Gauthier is an American Democratic politician and member of the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council, the legislative body of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consists of ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large. The council president is elected by the members from among their number. Each ...

. In 2019, she was elected to represent the Third District, which covers much of

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

and

Southwest Philadelphia Southwest Philadelphia (formerly Kingsessing Township) is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The section can be described as extending from the western side of the Schuylkill River to the city line, with the SEPTA. The nor ...

Early life and career

Gauthier was born in the

Kingsessing Kingsessing is a neighborhood in the Southwest section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. On the west side of the Schuylkill River, it is next to the neighborhoods of Cedar Park, Southwest Schuylkill, and Mount Moriah, as well as the ...

neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Her father, Leon Williams, ran for

District Attorney of Philadelphia The office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia is the largest prosecutor's office in the state of Pennsylvania and oversees a jurisdiction that includes more than 1.5 million citizens of both the city and county of Philadelphia. The current ...

twice as an independent candidate. She received her undergraduate degree in Accounting from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and her Masters in City Planning from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Gauthier founded Mommy Grads, an organization dedicated to helping single mothers raise children while attending college. She worked as a program officer with the

Local Initiatives Support Corporation The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is a US non-profit community development financial institution (CDFI) that supports community development initiatives across the country. It has offices in nearly 40 cities and works across 2,100 r ...

before serving as executive director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia from 2013 to 2017. In 2017, she became executive director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy.

Philadelphia City Council

In January 2019, Gauthier announced she would challenge longtime incumbent

Jannie Blackwell Jannie L. Blackwell is the Vice Chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party and a former member of the Philadelphia City Council. She represented the Third District, which covers much of West Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia, including Un ...

in the Democratic primary for

in the Third District, which covers much of

and

. Blackwell had represented the district since 1992, when she succeeded her husband Lucien Blackwell, who previously held the seat for 17 years. Gauthier defeated Blackwell by 56%-44% in the May 2019 primary, in what was called "a huge upset over one of the biggest political dynasties in Philly politics." Gauthier faced no opposition in the general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauthier, Jamie Living people Philadelphia City Council members African-American city council members in Pennsylvania African-American women in politics Pennsylvania Democrats Women city councillors in Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women

Early life and career

Philadelphia City Council

See also

References