But neither the mayor nor the senator, both Democrats, broached the issue when they passed each other Tuesday in a Capitol hallway in Harrisburg. They hugged and exchanged pleasantries, Williams said. But that was all.
The senator said he isn't sure yet if he's in or out, and won't yet say when he'll make that decision - except that it won't be quite as late as 13 weeks before Election Day, when he decided to run for governor.
"Are people talking to me about it, and aggressively? Yes," Williams said. "Am I listening to them? Yes, I am."
The Nutter campaign is not sitting idly by. On Thursday morning, the mayor was expected to announce that a key Williams ally and top Philadelphia official - District Attorney Seth Williams - is backing him for reelection.
The endorsement follows another early campaign announcement just before Christmas, that Philadelphia's three local members of Congress - Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, and Allyson Schwartz - were all lining up behind the mayor.
"If there are interested competitors who are trying to gauge how strong a candidate he is, I think these endorsements show that," Nutter campaign spokeswoman Sheila Simmons said. "And they can interpret them as they like."
Though Nutter has been criticized in political circles for struggling to move his agenda forward, many political observers now anticipate the race in the end will be a sleeper, with no eventual primary challenger emerging - especially given the mayor's head start in fund-raising and city rules that cap campaign donations. Besides, no Philadelphia mayor who has sought reelection has lost.
Anthony Williams, who has an amicable relationship with Nutter, is undeterred. "There are other ways to be competitive," he said, declining to explain.
