Miller, who has diabetes-related problems, was first elected in 1995 as a protege of State Rep. David Richardson, who died before she took office in 1996.
Miller has a mixed record representing a district largely divided between the poorer neighborhoods of Germantown, Logan, Nicetown, and Tioga, and the affluent neighborhoods of Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill.
Her tenure has been marred twice by convictions of staffers on federal corruption charges. In 2008, former aide Theresa Pinkett pleaded guilty to bribery. In 2005, Steven Vaughn, Miller's chief of staff, was convicted in a scheme to generate a $60,000 collection fee for a company owned by Muslim cleric Shamsud-din Ali.
And the community development corporation Miller was most closely associated with, Germantown Settlement, went bankrupt and was dissolved in December after spending millions of taxpayer dollars on failed projects.
Though sometimes targeted by critics as a weak link on Council, the soft-spoken Miller has taken on issues dear to some of her constituents - from public safety to prisoner reentry and minority hiring.
She paired with Councilman Darrell L. Clarke in 2007 and 2009 on a host of laws regulating gun ownership, three of which survived court challenges.
One requires the reporting of lost and stolen handguns, another prohibits gun ownership for anyone under a domestic-violence restraining order, and the third restricts ownership of firearms for those decreed a danger to community.
In December, Miller presided over hearings on allegations of police misconduct, offering the public a chance to comment publicly on police issues.
"As mayor, it has always been clear that Councilwoman Miller worked hard and cared passionately about her constituents," Mayor Nutter was quoted as saying in Miller's release.
