🗳️ A close mayor’s race could take time to call | Morning Newsletter

Happy Friday. It should be another sunny day with a high of 85.

Election Day is right around the corner. So many people want to be mayor and there are five candidates who have a path to victory. The crowded aspect of the race is the reason it could took awhile to find out who actually wins.

Our lead story explains when we’ll know who won Philly’s mayoral primary election. 🔑

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

It might take a long time to find out who won in Tuesday’s primary election for mayor on the Democratic ticket.

With five front-runners splitting the vote margins could be slim, making it harder to be certain who won until all the votes are counted and any challenges resolved.

The good news: Most votes will be counted fairly quickly so there is still a chance we could have an answer on election night.

But if the race is as close as some observers expect, a fast vote count may not be enough to have a clear winner by Wednesday morning.

Continue reading to learn what the time line would look like if the margins are tight. 🔑

According to authorities, a 21-year-old woman has been charged with helping coordinate the escape of two prisoners from a Philadelphia jail, one of whom was captured Thursday night.

Nasir Grant, 24, who had been facing gun and drug charges, was taken into custody after a car stop in North Philly. Ameen Hurst, 18, who is accused of committing four murders, remained on the lam late Thursday night.

Hurst called Xianni Stallings, of North Philadelphia, on a recorded jail line at some point before he and Grant broke out of the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center through a hole in a chain-link fence on Sunday, according to police.

Authorities declined to specify what the prisoner allegedly told Stallings.

Stallings was arraigned Thursday morning on charges including conspiracy and hindering apprehension, with bail set at $500,000.

Continue reading for the latest on what we know and don’t know about the jailbreak.

John DeBella is retiring from WMGK after 48 years in radio.

How many years did he work at the classic rock station?

A) 21

B) 25

C) 30

D) 42

Think you know? Check your answer.

🦠Explaining: What the end of pandemic emergency declarations means for you.

🎨Sharing: There’s a Taylor Swift mural on South Street after an artist from New Jersey proposed the idea on TikTok. In less than a week, she painted it herself.

Hint: Open every Saturday and Sunday at FDR Park 🌳

AARIKA HEMOSTAT SUNSET

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Cheers to Yvonne Jones, who correctly guessed Thursday’s answer: Taylor Swift. Email us if you know the answer.

And that’s it from me. I’m off to do last-minute gift wrapping for Mother’s Day. Our new newsletter editor, Paola Pérez, has you covered on Sunday. I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday.