Editor's note: Carlos Nogueras contributed to this report. 

When Philadelphia families turned on FOX29 to watch the first televised debate of this year’s mayoral race on the night of Tuesday, April 11, they might have, at first, thought they had tuned into the Presidential primary.

Seven Philly Democrats joined onstage to discuss the city’s most pressing issues, and what began as innocent squabbles rapidly turned to jaw-dropping offensive tactics over “dark money” Super PACs, the highly controversial 76ers arena proposal, trash incineration in Chester, and safe injection sites. 

Notably, contenders Warren Bloom and Judge James DeLeon were not invited to participate. 

At AL DÍA, we gathered some of the more memorable moments from the debate, including instances where candidates either didn’t shy away from dealing personal blows and breaking from the FOX29 format. 

Jeff Brown: “The trash has to go somewhere.”

Grocer magnate Jeff Brown was on the hot seat during Wednesday night’s debate, receiving several verbal jabs from his fellow candidates as well as from one of the FOX29 debate moderators. 

The multimillionaire was pressed on a number of issues, including the controversial 76ers arena proposal, stop-and-frisk, education, and how to tackle the city’s gun-violence crisis. 

This was just a day after the city’s Board of Ethics accused him of violating the city’s campaign-finance laws. The board sued a Super PAC as well as a nonprofit that was supporting Brown in the Democratic primary. 

The two entities, both called For A Better Philadelphia, were accused of illegally coordinating fundraising efforts that resulted in a whopping $2.4 million that the board called a violation of the city’s campaign finance limits.

The longtime ShopRite owner defended himself from the accusations on live television, going as far as to call the ethics investigation, “a political hit job.” 

“This is about the political establishment not wanting the change that we so desperately need,” Brown said during the debate, in which he was questioned intensely on the issue by the Fox29 moderators. “This is a political hit job. This is not a reality.”

Brown, the sole non-politician on the ballot, gave further comments to the ethics board after the debate concluded, suggesting that the five-member board is in on a bigger plot to keep him out of the race. His answer on the ethics question prompted bashing from fellow candidates Cherelle Parker and Helen Gym. 

These would not be his only comments of the night to cause an uproar among the crowd, panel, and the audience. 

He also made comments about the city of Chester when responding to a question about how he'd address complaints of environmental racism and pollution in the city where some of Philly’s trash is dumped. Chester is a majority Black suburb in Delaware County.

Brown — who’s ran a campaign under the slogan “Pick up the damn trash” — was dismissive with his answer when asked about what he’d do with the vendors' contracts who handle waste removal. 

“Chester is Chester,” he said. “I’m worried about Philadelphians and how their lives are.”

“So you don’t care about Chester?” the moderator followed up. 

“I do care, but I don’t work for them if I’m the mayor,” Brown said. “I work for Philadelphia, and the trash has to go somewhere, and whoever gets it is going to be unhappy with it.”

The exchange caused some discomfort inside the room with immediate responses from former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart and former City Councilmember Parker. 

Helen Gym: “I thought I had 18 seconds.”

Former Council member Helen Gym has stood out in the race for holding more progressive views on the campaign trail, drawing intense criticism from other, more moderate candidates on the issues. 

Onstage, Gym responded to questions about her relationship with the teacher’s union and was asked to name an occasion where the union "got it wrong." The American Federation of Teachers, wholly backing Gym in the race, has  invested hundreds of thousands into her campaign. 

When Gym began to answer the question posed by the FOX 29 senior reporter Jeff Cole, she was interrupted and not able to finish her sentence, at one point informing Cole that she had 18 seconds left on the clock. 

Aside from raising her $10 billion platform to course-correct public education, Gym said “we need to be working in partnership with our educators to make sure that we restore teaching back… I’m not leaving our kids behind.”

One of the tensest moments of the night began when a moderator asked Gym whether a new sports stadium, which would neighbor the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, was necessary to deter unruly conduct in center city, citing an issue the city dealt with involving teenagers in the Market Street area. 

“I’m not sure how you’re making that connection,” Gym pushed back, “I am trying to change the way people live in this city and especially for young people in Philadelphia…the Sixers arena has nothing to do with that,” she continued. 

“And also, it’s kinda trash that they tried to buy one of the candidates on this stage,” Gym, hitting aggressively at grocer Brown, said after the Philadelphia Board of Ethics raised a lawsuit against him for alleged “extensive coordination” with “dark money” Super PACs. 

Reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer has found links between a major sports team and Brown’s campaign. 

Following that response, Rep. Amen Brown, ostensibly answering a question about the city’s unhoused population, accused Gym of meeting with Sixers owner David Adelman “on Market Street the other day,” he said. “We just need a transparent mayor.” 

“Unlike State Representative Brown and unlike the other Brown,” Gym pushed back, “I’m not bought.”

Pressed about whether she had met with Adelman, Gym said she had met with him, “but not to discuss anything.” 

“To be clear,” she added, “meeting with an individual is not a problem. Taking their money is.” 

Gym rejected the idea of building an arena for the first time during the debate. 

Amen Brown: “I’ve learned from my past.”

Brown carried an enthusiasm that has not been seen throughout his campaign run, and delivered strong stances when it came to public safety and gun violence. He input many of his own lived experiences into the conversation that gave him a positive look with viewers — that was until near the end. 

Still, Brown’s long trail of financial and business challenges, including back taxes owed to the city and debts owed to business partners from daycare businesses he owned and other enterprises, prompted Cole to press the state representative about his failings in that regard and how he could possibly handle the Mayor’s seat. 

Brown’s answer caused a lot of confusion in the room. 

“First and foremost, I believe I'm the only candidate up here who's learned from his or her actual lived experiences. The challenge seems as though is that the legislation that these individuals haven't learned from and the cost…the cost that it has given the city,” he said. 

“I'm sorry? The cost that it has given to the city?” Cole responded. “Are your problems indicative of your ability to handle money?” 

“Absolutely not. I've learned from my past, and I've gotten through that,” Brown replied before Cole moved on to another candidate. 

Cherelle Parker” “I will never allow anyone to put me in a box.” 

Parker’s all-around performance at the debate chased slogans she’s repeated on the campaign trail, emphasizing her tough-on-crime stance that enhances policing “without any tolerance for misuse or abuse of power.” 

Under pressure by the panelists, Parker answered questions about her position on stop-and-frisk, a procedure police use when officers believe an individual is involved in criminal activity.

Police can “frisk” and pat down individuals in search of weapons without needing a warrant if they believe the person to be in possession of a weapon. The New York Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, in doing a revision of thousands of stop-and-frisk instances, found remarkable racial disparities in the number of Black and Brown individuals who were apprehended. 

It also found that an “overwhelming” number of individuals stopped were innocent. 

Parker, defending her position for the legal application of stop and frisk, said she would “never allow anyone to put me in a box… I know that the unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk has disproportionately, negatively impacted Black and Brown boys.”

But she continued, “The constitutional use of it as a policing tool is something that our law enforcement must use to ensure that our city is safer.” 

She cited the Bailey Consent Decree, which allows the PPD to revise data from each stop-and-frisk instance and store the information to provide officers with training and supervision with respect to the practice. According to a 2020 court filing, stop-and-frisk continued to be enforced on Black and Brown individuals. 

Later, addressing a Temple professor about how she would partner with public health experts to curb both the opioid epidemic and the gun violence crisis, Parker said “the first thing I wouldn’t do is employ the use of a safe injection site as a tool to address the opioid epidemic… I refer to that as what I call ‘I know what’s best for [you] people’ policymaking when academicians and others attempt to force a particular strategy for a community.” 

Parker’s position on alternative forms of care for addiction aligns with the sentiment of ward leaders and elected officials who represent parts of Kensington, where the open-air drug market has attracted the attention of all mayoral campaigns. 

At the end of the forum, though, Parker expressed her frustration with Gym’s proposed $10 billion school plan, saying, “Helen has an imaginary plan with fake funding. What taxes will you raise, and what services will you cut?”

Because the statement was outside the debate’s format, panelists moved on to Allan Domb. 

Allan Domb: “No one owns me.”

Real estate magnate Allan Domb failed to bring any true enthusiasm to the stage which could be attributed to much of the limelight consistently staying on Jeff Brown and others. 

As with all other forums and debates that he’s participated in, he was competent with his answers and was sure to shrug off any comments about his wealth that is mostly supporting his campaign. 

When pressed by a moderator on millions of personal dollars used to fund his campaign, he said “no one owns me.”

On top of touting his record in City Council, he continued his messaging of never being the smartest guy in the room but did impress with his knowledge of city issues. 

But any kind of real emotion failed to shine through, but importantly to the campaign, he sold his comprehension of complex issues and solutions. 

Domb was pro-jobs, taxpayers, and growing the city’s tax base. He got some points on the board when he mentioned Cristo Rey, a private school that operates a successful schooling program for youth where real-life work is incorporated into the curriculum.