Philadelphia’s mayoral race has been all about crime. A progressive might win anyway

On Sunday morning, Helen Gym was knocking doors in Nicetown, not far from an elementary school she’d fought to keep public. Domonic Carter, 34, stopped to tell her about the needless death he’d seen; about the gun he’d started carrying; about how it felt like the only option for people worried about crime was to “up and leave” Philadelphia for the suburbs.

“I feel like we’re slaves in our own city,” said Carter.

“Philly is a city that leaves its young people behind,” responded Gym, a former city council member who,...