DeRay Mckesson, an activist connected with the Black Lives Matter movement, filed paperwork minutes before the Wednesday deadline to become the 13th candidate for the mayor of Baltimore, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“I have come to realize that the traditional pathway to politics, and the traditional politicians who follow these well-worn paths, will not lead us to the transformational change our city needs,” Mckesson wrote in a blog post announcing his campaign late Wednesday night.
Civil rights activist @deray formally filing to run for mayor of Baltimore at the 9PM deadline pic.twitter.com/usFCjK2b2c
— Luke Broadwater (@lukebroadwater) February 4, 2016
The Democratic primary has historically decided the mayoral contest because about 78 percent of Baltimore voters identify as Democrats, according to The Sun.
The general election is Nov. 8.
Mckesson is a Baltimore native who rose to prominence as a part of the protest movements which began in Ferguson, Mo., following the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The same protests came to Baltimore after the death of Freddie Grey.
Mckesson said he will release his platform in the coming week.
I’m happy about this. Every interview I’ve seen of Mckesson, he’s always on point. Good luck to him.
Personally, I have to assume Black Lives don’t Matter, or they would not be taking so many.
Plus if 18-30 voters are ever about to get going on Bernie’s Revolution, this is where the leaders have to come from: inside their own generation.
Way to distill a complex issue into a Trump like sound bite! You should be running for President.
Yeah, he does a good job at not only answering questions critical of BLM but of destroying the underlying premise of the question.