PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With just three weeks left until Philadelphia’s mayoral election, the candidates have made no joint appearances — yet — but they did appear one at a time before a group of second-graders at the Please Touch Museum on Tuesday.
The kids’ questions often reflected the same concerns as grown-up voters.
“What would you do to make the city safer and fix the streets?” Jacquin, a second-grader at St. Rose of Lima, asked Democrat Cherelle Parker.
“If I could wave a magic wand, it would all be over,” she said. “But because I know it takes a whole lot more, I want you to have access to opportunity.”
The event was part of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism’s “Every Voice, Every Vote” project and the Please Touch Museum’s Playful World celebration. Fittingly, serious questions like Jacquin’s were mixed with lighter ones.
Niyasha asked Republican David Oh if it was hard to run for mayor.
“Here’s what’s hard. Nobody thinks I can win. Before I even start the race they say, ‘This guy can’t win.’ And they don’t want to help me, so that’s kind of hard, right?” Oh said.
Parker was in her element in front of the pint-sized audience, fielding questions like “What was your favorite subject in school?”
“This is an easy one because, I’ll tell you guys, while I am a candidate for mayor, I am a certified secondary English teacher by profession — so English is my favorite subject.”
Oh, father of four, also seemed at home, though he couldn’t resist getting into the weeds, a bit, even on a question like “Would you take care of homeless people as mayor?”
“The first thing I would do is stop the assessment process of property taxes, because we did an independent audit — that means we looked at it — and we found the way we do the property taxes …”
Well … whether they understood the answers or not, the kids loved the experience.
“I’m having the best day ever,” said Kitai Liles, though he said he really couldn’t choose between the two candidates. “I think they’re cool and they’re smart.”
The candidates will meet face to face in a debate that will be broadcast on KYW Newsradio, on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 8 a.m. The election is Nov. 7.