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Philadelphia’s mayoral primary is getting close. If you’re still trying to figure out who’s getting your vote — or if you’re just curious about where candidates stand on the issues you care about — we’ve got a treat for you.
Billy Penn’s “Meet Your Mayor” quiz — found at phillymayorquiz.com — is a 52-question survey to help show how well you align with each candidate on some of the top issues the next mayor will have to tackle in their administration. Think of it as political matchmaking.
The quiz is part of the Every Voice, Every Vote project run by the Lenfest Institute. It’s based on a previous app created by THE CITY, a nonprofit local news outlet in New York City.
Taking the quiz is simple: Visit phillymayorquiz.com, and select your preferred answer to each question to see your candidate “matches.” You can skip any questions you want. You can also go back and switch your answers around to see how that changes things.
You’ll find brief explanations below each question, with some context on why it’s important. Once you choose an answer and see who matched, you can tap on a candidate’s photo to read what they said about the issue. These quotes are sourced from the many forums, campaign platform statements, or things candidates have said elsewhere on the trail.
Over the past few months, Billy Penn’s team — four reporters, an editor, a researcher, and a web developer — formulated the series of questions across 13 topics from gun violence to leadership style, and sent them to the candidates as a multiple-choice questionnaire.
We sent the questionnaire to each person who will appear on the ballot, including lone Republican candidate David Oh. Six of the contenders currently vying for mayor chose to fill out at least some of the questions.
Former Councilmember Oh and former Councilmember Cherelle Parker declined to fill out any of the survey — so we looked toward what they’ve said at forums, on their campaign websites, and in the press to match them to the responses that best reflect their positions.
Former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, State Rep. Amen Brown, and former Councilmember Allan Domb chose one of our responses for around 80%, 77%, and 70% of the questions, respectively. Former municipal judge James DeLeon left just one answer blank.
Where they didn’t choose one of our answers, both Rhynhart and Domb added their own options to Billy Penn’s survey or provided context about their positions — in some cases, those answers aligned with our existing responses, and we matched them to an existing answer.
Where candidate responses or statements on the campaign trail didn’t fit any of the options presented in the survey, we did not match them to an answer. Candidates with fewer answers are less likely to match with voters who take the survey.
Billy Penn received no responses from candidates Warren Bloom and Delscia Gray, so their names do not appear in the quiz.
Important note: This is not a poll — we’re not collecting any of the results. It’s totally private, until you decide to share who you matched with on social media or tell your friends.
Want to try it out? Head to phillymayorquiz.com, and let us know what you think!
This story is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute, Peter and Judy Leone, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Harriet and Larry Weiss, and the Wyncote Foundation, among others. Learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters here.
