#Next NYC Democratic mayoral debate to be in-person

Basketball fans are back, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is back — and now, in-person political mudslinging will return to New York City,

The leading Democratic contenders to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio will finally share a stage together for their second televised primary debate next week, officials announced late Monday — after a virtual event earlier this month and a seemingly endless schedule of candidate Zoom forums.

“After receiving the final list of candidates this weekend and much due diligence reviewing the safety protocols, our team is now confident that we can host the June 2 mayoral debate with the candidates in person,” the event’s broadcaster, WABC-TV, said in a statement.

Previously, officials had said that the second debate would be a virtual affair, with each of the candidates beamed in from outside locations and grouped together in boxes on the screen.

But, as the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 allowed officials to begin to relax restrictions, the candidates and commentators began pressing the Campaign Finance Board and Channel 7’s owner, the Walt Disney Company, to follow suit and bring back in-person debates.

“The Board is thrilled that WABC will be able to hold the debate on June 2 in-person,” said the executive director of the CFB, Amy Loprest.

“We appreciate all of the work that will go into making this debate compelling for the voters and safe for the candidates, moderators, and WABC personnel.”

The debate is the second of three between the major Democratic contenders in the June 22 primary election. It’s set to air at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 2.

The first debate, which was aired on cable channel NY1, was virtual.

The primary will be the first citywide election to use the Big Apple’s new ranked-choice voting system.

That means New Yorkers will be able to select their preference of up to five candidates running for mayor and other positions in city government — and the ballots will be tallied by first, second, third, fourth and fifth choice, eliminating the need for runoff elections.