Philly mayoral debate 2023: How to watch and what we’re looking for

Philadelphia’s six top Democratic mayoral candidates will take the stage Tuesday evening — just three weeks before the May 16 election primary election — for what’s likely to be the final major televised debate of this year’s campaign.

The candidates participating are State Rep. Amen Brown, grocer Jeff Brown, former City Councilmember Allan Domb, former City Councilmember Helen Gym, former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker, and ex-City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart. Three other candidates will appear on the Democratic primary ballot but are not seen as top contenders and were not invited to participate in Tuesday’s debate.

There has been no independent, public polling of the mayor’s race — though one will be released on Friday — and most of the top candidates have a path to victory.

The final big debate of the season could provide them one of their best opportunities yet to separate themselves from the rest of the field.

Here’s what you need to know:

The debate between the six Democratic candidates is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will last 90 minutes.

It will take place at the 6abc studio in Philadelphia and will be moderated by 6abc news anchor Matt O’Donnell. The debate is hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in partnership with United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

The debate will be live streamed Tuesday on 6abc.com.

It will not be televised on 6abc until Sunday at 9 a.m. Viewers can also tune in live on 6abc’s digital channel 6.2 (for cable subscribers, that’s 790 on Xfinity and 466 on Verizon Fios).

State Rep. Amen Brown of West Philadelphia is running as an unabashedly tough-on-crime and pro-development Democrat.

Businessman Jeff Brown, the longtime ShopRite proprietor, is running as an anti-politician. He is attempting to become the first outsider mayor in a century.

Former City Councilmember Allan Domb, a real estate magnate known as the “condo king” with a vast portfolio of properties in Center City, has leaned hard on his business acumen in his pitch to Philadelphia voters.

Former City Councilmember Helen Gym, who has evolved from a teacher into a school board protester into a leader of the city’s social justice movement, now is a mayoral candidate running as a “tough Philly mom.”

Former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker is running for mayor with a mission to help preserve the “village” that raised her and other neighborhoods like it.

Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, first elected as a political outsider, is now running to lead the government she spent the last five years auditing.

Here’s what we’re watching for in the final big debate of the season:

Brown took the most fire from opponents during the last two televised events, including one last week when he had a heated exchange with Gym and when he directly attacked several of his rivals.

But the focus on Brown during debates has allowed for several other top contenders to make it through largely unscathed. Parker, Gym, Domb, and Rhynhart have all at times alluded to some of their opponents in negative terms, but besides going after Brown, they have all largely avoided attacking their rivals by name.

The first debate of the campaign season also resulted in the first big viral moment: when Brown made a dismissive comment about the city of Chester and environmental racism. The comment drew a rebuke from elected officials in Chester, and Brown’s opponents slammed him for his comments.

Several other candidates have slipped up during live events, but we’ll be watching to see if any gaffes or missteps endure in voters’ minds beyond Tuesday night.

Other televised debates and forums this campaign season have done little to clarify the state of the race, which remains wide open to Jeff Brown, Domb, Gym, Parker, and Rhynhart. But with this being the last major televised event of the campaign, we’ll be watching to see if anyone breaks out and manages to separate themselves from the pack — or falls flat.