Melissa Murray Bailey

Biography

Bailey was raised in South Jersey. Her grandmother is from West Philadelphia, while her grandfather grew up in South Philadelphia. Both of her parents are public school teachers, including her father, who was the lead negotiator for his teachers union. She is one of four siblings.

Bailey received her bachelor's degree in biological engineering from the University of Maryland and worked as a substitute teacher while in college. She was eventually hired by Universum Global, a Swedish branding firm which also assists employers' efforts to hire workers. Prior to moving to Philadelphia, Bailey ran CEB's Asia business, located in Singapore. She resided in Singapore and Australia for nearly seven years before being hired by Universum and moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bailey and her husband moved to Philadelphia in 2012 and settled in the Society Hill neighborhood of Center City. She is currently the President of Universum's Americas business.

She and her husband, Sean Bailey, who works in the governmental tech department at Accenture, have one daughter, Cricket.

Political career

Bailey, a longtime registered Democrat, switched her party affiliation to the Republican Party in early 2015.

In 2015, Bailey, who had never run for public office before, filed her candidacy for Mayor of Philadelphia, becoming the only Republican to enter in the 2015 mayoral race. She was unopposed in the Republican mayoral primary election, which was held on May 19, 2015.

Melissa Murray Bailey faced Democrat Jim Kenney, a longtime member of the Philadelphia City Council, in the general election on November 3, 2015, in which she was defeated. Registered Republicans make up only 11% of Philadelphia voters.