Terry Tracy keeps a photo of an engraved quote in his cell phone. The quote reads, “Our lack of real capacity for public indignation is due to the length of time we have lived under the dominance of one political machine.” The words were originally uttered in 1947 by eventual Democratic Mayor Richardson Dilworth and are now set in stone at the Southwest corner of Dilworth Plaza at City Hall. The 117th Mayor of Philadelphia  was referring to the entrenched Republican Party, which had a long political grip on the city at the time.

“It’s pretty ironic now,” the Republican Tracy told The Spirit.

Tracy left a lucrative job with the Ralph Lauren company to run for City Council. His only previous political experience was running for City Controller in 2013, a virtually un-winnable election as a Republican in Philly.

But the city charter guarantees non-Dems two seats in City Council. Naturally, a person who wanted to be Controller, and a Republican at that, wants to audit the school district.

“A forensic investigation” of the “budget, not the educational process,” Tracy explained. He stresses it’s “not a ‘gotcha’ exercise.”

We’re always talking about the operating budget, never the capital budget,” Tracy said.

also adding that several buildings are physically deteriorating.

Tracy has a Riverwards connection. His grandmother’s family ran a furniture store in Kensington. One of his hopes for the area is a reconnection to the river. He points out the Schuylkill River project, which was funded by a mix of private money and state and federal grants: “The city didn’t give it a dime. We can replicate that success on the Delaware.”

He said his advantage over other Republicans like David Oh and Denny O’Brien is in style, citing issues with the two not battling with their Democratic colleagues more often. “I guess it’s okay to go with the flow but if you had real clout you could bring something to the table.”

Tracy plans on addressing “Harrisburg’s skepticism” of Philly, which he asserts could partially be achieved with the increased transparency he seeks.

He also notes that the city needs to create business opportunities by drawing national and international companies in. He plans on reaching out to the expected Democratic Party winners with ideas.

“Take Alan Domb,” Tracy said. “I don’t think there’s two better people we could put on plane to go talk to [business executives] to tell them about what [Philadelphia] has to offer.”

Despite lacking the name recognition of his some of his opponents in the primary, Tracy did well city-wide. He came in third overall, just a few hundred votes shy of incumbent Denny O’Brien, winning more than a dozen wards. He took first in the 25th and 45th Wards in the Riverwards.

His strategy is to continue to reach out to a diverse base and pick up few votes in many divisions that Republicans rarely, if ever, visit.

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