🗳️Before you vote today... | Morning Newsletter

You can expect a cloudy day, but opt for short sleeves. The high will reach 80.

Nine months of campaigning and $30 million later, it’s finally the Democratic primary election day. Whoever wins today is expected to win the November general election and become Philly’s 100th mayor.

Our lead story will share everything you need to know about where the race stands before you head to the polls.

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)

The next mayor will take control of a city that has undergone a turbulent few years including a pandemic, a racial justice movement, and a gun violence crisis.

The top contenders:

Helen Gym, Cherelle Parker, and Allan Domb are all former City Council members. Gym is a leader of the city’s progressive movement, Parker is the city’s Democratic establishment pick, and Domb is a real-estate magnate who poured $10 million of his own money into his campaign.

Rebecca Rhynhart is the former city controller and the technocrat in the race. Jeff Brown is a longtime ShopRite proprietor and would be the city’s first outsider mayor in a century.

Reminder: A poll from last week showed Helen Gym, Cherelle Parker, and Rebecca Rhynhart as the three neck-and-neck candidates leading the race. Allan Domb wasn’t far behind, and Jeff Brown is trailing but still remains in contention.

Pay attention: This could be the year Philly elects its first female mayor. Also if Gym wins, her win would follow other big progressive victories in other major cities, like Chicago and Los Angeles.

Keep reading to find out how all the candidates want to address crime, the top issue of the race. We also have a breakdown of how The Inquirer will report the results.

The top five contenders to become Philly’s 100th mayor spent Monday bopping around the city to make their final pleas for support.

The campaigning won’t stop until polls close at 8 p.m. today. All of them plan to vote in the morning and then go on to a packed schedule full of events. They’re urging their volunteers and supporters to knock on doors to get every vote they can.

Keep reading to learn how the candidates spent their last hours attempting to convince undecided voters.

The top candidate in Tuesday’s highly competitive Philly mayoral primary will likely win the smallest share of the vote in modern mayoral history.

Notable quote: “I would bet a slice of pizza that no one breaks 30 [percent],” said political strategist Neil Oxman, who has worked on every open Philly mayor’s race since 1979 but sat out this one.

Some political strategists and operatives working on campaigns predict the total number of votes the nominee gets could fall far below 100,000. That would represent less than 10% of all registered voters, according to an Inquirer analysis.

Keep reading to take a closer look at election results from past competitive Democratic mayoral primaries.

A Philly sports team made friendship bracelets for Taylor Swift’s Philly tour shops ... but killed the idea at the last minute.

Which team was it?

A) 76ers

B) Flyers

C) Phillies

D) Eagles

Think you know? Check your answer.

✈️ Sharing: How to book the cheapest flights from Philly. Get a head start planning your summer trips.

💭 Wondering: If it’s worth pushing through my hesitation to try a bacon, egg, and cheese, and PB&J. It seems like a lot. Feel free to email us to tell us other sandwich mashups to try.

Hint: This Eagle just earned his graduate degree

HALTERS JUN

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 Rama Assaf-Smith, who correctly guessed Monday’s answer: Stock’s. Email us if you know the answer.

That’s it from me. I’m starting the day listening to ”Skin” by Dijon on repeat. Thanks for starting yours with The Inquirer.