INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Democrat mayor of Indianapolis and a Republican hopeful for the job answered questions, many provided by WISH-TV viewers, during a live, hourlong debate aired Monday night.

Hogsett is seeking a third four-year term as mayor of Indianapolis. Shreve, a businessman who has previously served on the City-County Council, won the Republican primary in May.

Monday night’s presentation was the first one-hour televised debate in an Indianapolis mayoral campaign in nearly 20 years.

An IU Health study says someone living in a neighborhood, which is majority Black and Hispanic, along Meridian Street just north of the WISH-TV station has a life expectancy of 66 years. But travel just a few miles up the road to Carmel, a neighborhood that’s 75% white, and the life expectancy is 91 years. Is Indianapolis doing enough to support underprivileged communities, and what do the candidates specifically plan to do over the next four years to help improve those numbers?

Shreve calls it an “extraordinary disparity” and a “societal injustice.” He noted he’d been working on health equity with groups before stepping down to run for mayor. “We have to do a better job in Marion County toward harmonizing those life expectancies with Hamilton County and our other doughnut counties.”

Hogsett says the disparities come from many issues, including home ownership, health access, employment, and education. “This disparity over the long run will be addressed in meaningful ways by providing better jobs and more jobs to more people with better wages, and that’s what we have fought for.”