The debate moved into its middle phase.

The initial fiery atmosphere had cooled somewhat as the topics shifted to more concrete areas—ones that truly tested the candidates’ practical abilities: administrative experience and future urban planning.

This was Leo’s weak spot.

He was, after all, too young. Aside from the fledgling "Renaissance One" project, he had no experience managing large public institutions.

And this was precisely where Carter Wright excelled.

The moderator posed a pointed question about balancing the municipal budget deficit with public services.

Following the strategy Ethan had prepared, Leo attacked City Hall for being bloated, inefficient, and wasting taxpayers’ money.

It should have been a scoring blow.

But Carter Wright’s response caught everyone by surprise.

He sighed, a candid expression appearing on his face.

"Mr. Wallace is right," Carter Wright said, looking at the camera with sincere eyes. "Our City Hall is, at times, inefficient. It can be frustrating."

"As Mayor, I despise this inefficiency more than anyone."

"But why is that?"

Carter Wright spread his hands, his tone becoming grave and earnest.

"Because democracy, by its very nature, is inefficient."

"In Pittsburgh, if I want to repair a road, I first have to hear the opinions of the residents in five different communities along the way. I have to get an assessment from the environmental department, go through three rounds of hearings with the city council, and balance the interests of the Union, contractors, and taxpayers."

"The process is long, painful, and at times, even ugly."

"But I have to do it."

"Because I sit in that office, I am responsible for every single person in this city. On a shoestring budget, I have to make sure the trash gets collected every morning, the traffic lights on the corner are working, and that when it snows in the winter, the snowplows can make it into every neighborhood."

Carter Wright’s voice took on a world-weary tone.

"Mr. Wallace, it’s easy to shout slogans from the sidelines. You don’t have to make the decisions. You don’t have to face those no-win situations."

"It’s like the difference between writing poetry and fixing a leaky pipe."

"Your poetry is beautiful, full of passion and ideals. The pipe I’m fixing may be ugly, and it might still drip a little, but it keeps the city from going dry and ensures our citizens have water to drink."

"That is governance."

"It isn’t some romantic revolution. It’s the daily, tedious, and sometimes even grimy work of patching things up."

The studio fell silent.

Many of the middle-aged and older viewers, looking at the slightly balding, paunchy man on stage with exhaustion written all over his face, found themselves nodding involuntarily.

They understood.

His words had struck a chord, resonating with their deep-seated desire for stability.

They might not like Carter Wright, but they had to admit that keeping this old city running was a thankless job.

Carter Wright had successfully cast himself as the "imperfect adult trying his best to hold things together in an imperfect world."

Leo, in contrast, was made to look like an out-of-touch idealist.

Backstage, Karen Miller’s expression changed.

"This old fox... what a brilliant move," she muttered. "He neutralized Leo’s attacks by admitting his own faults. He’s packaged his mediocrity as a necessary sacrifice."

Standing behind his podium, Leo also felt the pressure shift.

The feeling of command he’d had over the room just moments ago was slipping away.

His opponent was like a ball of cotton; no matter how hard he punched, the blow was softly absorbed and neutralized. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

’Be careful, Leo.’

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind.

’This old fox has a few tricks up his sleeve.’

’He’s not just some empty suit who can only read from a script.’

’He knows how to use the ’banality of mediocrity’ to defend himself. He’s reframing incompetence as helplessness, and compromise as responsibility.’

’If you keep attacking the details, attacking his inefficiency, you’ll get dragged down into the mud with him. You’ll become just as petty, and then you’ll lose.’

Leo took a deep breath.

He understood what Roosevelt meant.

’I can’t get bogged down arguing with Carter Wright on his level—the level of ’fixing pipes’.’

’I have to elevate the debate.’

’I have to drag the battlefield back to the ’future’ and the ’direction’ of the city.’

Leo looked at Carter Wright, a respectful expression on his face.

"Mr. Mayor, I respect your candor, and I respect the hard work you do fixing the city’s pipes."

Leo began, his tone sincere.

"I believe that over the past eight years, you have truly made a tremendous effort to keep this city running."

"However, the crucial point is this..."

Leo’s voice suddenly grew sharp.

"The entire house is on fire, and you’re still busy trying to fix a leaky pipe."

"The challenges Pittsburgh faces aren’t about whether the trash is collected or whether the traffic lights are working."

"It’s that our young people are leaving the city in droves! It’s that our industries are in complete decline! It’s that our population is shrinking irreversibly!"

"The patching and mending you take such pride in might allow this city to limp along for a few more years, but it cannot stop it from marching toward its demise."

Leo leaned forward, his gaze blazing.

"We are not facing a maintenance issue. We are facing a survival issue."

"We don’t need a skilled plumber to maintain the status quo."

"We need a new architect to redesign this city’s future!"

"You say democracy is inefficient, but that’s only because you see compromise as all that democracy is."

"True democracy is about unleashing the people’s creativity, about letting every citizen participate in the city’s reconstruction—just like we’re doing in the South District."

"That isn’t chaos. That is vitality!"

This counterattack landed like a heavy mallet on a drum.

It shattered the dull ’just getting by’ atmosphere, elevating the debate back to the impassioned heights of a ’fight for survival’.

For the next half hour, the debate became a white-hot stalemate.

Carter Wright was steady and shrewd. His defense was watertight, using his vast administrative experience and data to build one defensive line after another.

Leo was aggressively forward-thinking, delivering one sound bite after another. He launched repeated assaults with his grand vision for the future and his profound empathy for the people’s suffering.

This wasn’t the one-sided rout that either of them had expected before the debate.

It was a battle of equals.

A debate between stability and change, between pragmatism and idealism.

Viewers at home were glued to their television screens.

Even the most cynical political commentators had to admit it: this was the most brilliant, high-level debate in Pittsburgh’s history.

And now, the outcome was anyone’s guess.