It had to have been at least a little bit of a shock to Democrats four years ago when independent Ben Walsh was elected mayor of Syracuse.

This year, Democrats are looking to take back the city's chief executive role and the two men hoping to do just that. They met Wednesday night in a special primary debate on Spectrum News 1.

From their opening statements, both Michael Greene and Khalid Bey, both members of Syracuse's Common Council, laid the groundwork for the hour-long discussion on all things Syracuse and their vision for how it should forge ahead.

"This is what I talk about with empowering families," Bey said. "They have to have access to employment to stabilize their families, especially coming out of the pandemic, stability is very important today."

"So I put together a policy platform called 'A City for All of Us.' It's 14 different points that would make the city a better place. We need a mayor that's going to fight," Greene said.

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Over the course of the hour, the two discussed everything from youth violence, Black Lives Matter, policing and public safety.

"The most important thing is to give people an alternative to violence and that does mean investing in our community," Greene said.

"Proximity is very important, as is fostering relationships between police and community," Bey said. "Empowering families in a way that we used to."

They also touched on economic development, the future of Destiny USA and the new sidewalk plan, in which the city takes over maintenance and plowing of sidewalks. There will be no cost to property owners, though fees will be introduced on a phased-in basis over the following five years.

"So it is the right idea," Bey said. "I had concerns because I thought again, we had another knee-jerk reaction without considering unintended consequences."

"We should be a walkable city. Twenty-five percent of the city doesn't even own a car," Greene mentioned.

There was even talk about a relatively new issue that sparked last year — illegal fireworks.

"There needs to be consequences. It's a quality-of-life issue that frankly has not been addressed," Greene said.

"Even in communities like mine, it's even more troubling because often times, unfortunately, you can't tell the difference between fireworks and gunshots," Bey responded.

The two also took a break from the serious issues to answer personal questions in the lightning round, where Michael Greene admitted he is learning fatherhood the hard way.

"I've got a 1-year-old. Every time I am home, we are watching the 'Baby Shark' music video on repeat," Greene said when asked what's on his TV.

Khalid Bey took a pass on a preference for either Gianelli's Sausage and Dinosaur BBQ.

"I'm vegetarian. I'm sorry. I'll have to go with a beyond meat burger," Bey said with a smile.

Primary election day is June 22.