From left, Eduardo Martinez, Demnlus Johnson III and Shawn Dunning are working for Richmond Mayor in 2022. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group) (Photograph courtesy of Shawn Dunning)
RICHMOND — With out longtime Mayor Tom Butt standing of their approach within the Nov. 8 election, two Metropolis Council members and a neighborhood marketing consultant have jumped into the race to succeed him as Richmond’s high elected official.
Of their bid to interchange Butt, who phrases out on the finish of this 12 months after having spent greater than twenty years in elected workplace, council members Eduardo Martinez and Demnlus Johnson III and marketing consultant Shawn Dunning must scour for votes in a seemingly divided metropolis, the place municipal lawsuits, controversial housing developments and contentious public security choices have usually dominated the general public discourse.
Martinez is a retired West Contra Costa Unified Faculty District trainer who has served on the council since 2014. He's backed by the Richmond Progressive Alliance, a robust native political group whose endorsed candidates make up the council majority
Martinez is happy with his votes to lift the native minimal wage above $15 an hour, cease the town from offering details about non-citizens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and clear up poisonous improvement websites.
Martinez mentioned his “inexperienced” agenda priorities for this 12 months embody regulating pollution from the close by Chevron refinery, tackling hazardous supplies on the former AstraZeneca web site and guiding improvement alongside the shoreline at Level Molate, which is in the midst of a authorized battle.
“Resistance to large company curiosity will proceed, however we’ll even be combating for our imaginative and prescient of Richmond, the place our metropolis can present itself to be the financial middle and cultural middle we already know that it's,” Martinez mentioned throughout his latest marketing campaign kickoff. “What I wish to present is that progressive concepts are appropriate with financial success, and that progressive concepts encourage security and development in our communities.”
If Martinez doesn’t win the race, he’ll time period out on the finish of the 12 months together with Butt.
Johnson, who beforehand served as vice mayor, has voted extra conservatively than Richmond Progressive Alliance-backed council members, usually supporting housing developments clouded by environmental considerations and abstaining from votes reducing police budgets.
Johnson, 29, is a California coverage and authorities relations supervisor for Jumpstart for Younger Kids, and likewise serves as president of the Black Elected Officers of the East Bay.
Johnson didn't reply to requests for an interview.
Shawn Dunning is a self-proclaimed “outsider” within the race. The 46-year-old marketing consultant says his greater than 20 years of expertise in “battle decision and peace constructing” domestically and overseas is an asset in a race towards candidates beginning with extra endorsements and identify recognition.
“I see Richmond as a microcosm of the nation in some ways,” Dunning mentioned. “We’re terribly numerous, and but so separated. I believe what occurs is, very properly which means folks work towards change, however the way in which it’s executed doesn’t attain throughout the divides and isn't collaborative. I believe that’s the basis of why we get such division, or the notion of such.”
Dunning, who has lived in metropolis’s North & East neighborhood since 2016, mentioned he’s getting ready to host “lots of” of listening boards within the months forward to be taught concerning the neighborhood’s wants and considerations earlier than creating his personal priorities and coverage suggestions. He mentioned he is aware of that decades-long points akin to housing, public security and the financial system will make the listing.
“I understand how naive and silly it sounds for me to recommend that I actually can characterize everybody, however that’s truly what I’m in search of to do,” Dunning mentioned, framing his “experimental marketing campaign” as an audition for his capability to guide and maintain advanced discussions. “What I believe we’ve failed at as a metropolis is really reaching out and getting extra folks concerned.”