I use the words "surprise" and "stunning" but Thompson would take great umbrage at that characterization. At last week's mayoral forum, sponsored by the Harrisburg Young Professionals, she told me the published polls showing Reed well ahead of her (Reed 44%, Thompson 29%) were "totally wrong." Well, she was totally right. Thompson explained that throughout the campaign she had walked the neighborhoods of Harrisburg, knocked on thousands of doors, shaken hundreds of hands and felt confident that the city's voters were looking for change after Reed's nearly three-decades-long reign. He has held the office since 1982. Thompson would be the first woman and first African-American mayor in the city's history.

For Reed, the defeat is a sharp repudiation of his leadership style which had come under increasing attack over the last four years. There is still a possibility that Reed could prevail as a write-in candidate on the Republican ticket and challenge Thompson in November. Nevin Mindlin, the GOP primary candidate, trails the GOP write-ins by 13 votes and election officials are expected to tally the write-in results on Friday. Reed will not say if he would challenge Thompson in the fall should he be declared the write-in winner.

Few observers dispute the tremendous economic and cultural advances Reed has led in the city. But critics contend he ran Harrisburg for 27 years as if it were his own fiefdom - all press releases, all announcements, many appointments to key city agencies, the public schools, the entire agenda-setting for Harrisburg emanated from his vision and his office. However, as the full ramifications of his power came to light, including the highly controversial use of millions of dollars of non-tax city money to buy artifacts for the city's real and planned museums, voters' confidence in Reed tumbled.

On election night, he credited the loss to what he characterized as Thompson's "steady, daily drumbeat" of negative campaigning. "There was a relentless effort for disinformation and misinformation coming out. To be honest, I have never seen a volume of that kind of misinformation ever in my entire career. And it was a constant daily drumbeat and that has had its effect," he lamented.

Linda Thompson seized on city residents' dissatisfaction with Harrisburg's spending, its high debt and property taxes, problems with the incinerator, rising homicides, vacant buildings, and struggling schools. She successfully tapped into and helped generate a perception that Mayor Reed had focused too much attention and money on City Island, the Second Street and Midtown corridors, wealthy developers and not enough on neighborhoods like Allison Hill and Uptown still locked in double-digit unemployment, blight and a city school district that ranks 498th out of 501.

Thompson told the Harrisburg Patriot-News' editorial staff after the election, "We went into every single one of those wards. We left no area untouched. None. The message I wanted to send was, as much as my opponents wanted to paint me as the most divisive candidate, the one that was more polarized, I wanted to prove them different."

In addition to serving two terms on City Council, Thompson founded and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of a faith-based non-profit organization called LOVES.H.I.P. Incorporated, a Self Help Improvement Program. LOVES.H.I.P. provides education, housing, economic and workforce-development training to minorities and economically disadvantaged individuals. According to her website, "Thompson is the author of the Opportunities Unlimited (OU!) Program, which provides youth, ages 14-21 with intensive assessment, job readiness, life skills, basic computer training and the guidance and support of case managers."

John Luciew, a reporter for the Harrisburg Patriot-News, recently examined LoveS.H.I.P.'s financial records and reports that Thompson's claims that her political work has hurt the non-profit's finances appear to be true.

Already Thompson's victory has fueled some exits. Longtime Harrisburg Chief of Police Charles Kellar announced his retirement on Wednesday, telling the Patriot-News, "I was getting close, and with the changing of the guard, it's a good opportunity." Kellar says he will "pursue other options." Thompson also has made it clear she intends to buy out the contract of Harrisburg Schools Superintendent Gerald Kohn and seek a replacement who specializes in urban education.

Linda Thompson will join us Friday, May 22 at 8:30 p.m. on Smart Talk and share her vision for Harrisburg and how she plots her path to victory in November. Send us your thoughts at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .