Rochester, N.Y. – Mayor Tom Richards announced Wednesday he will run for a full term in November.
Richards ran for mayor in a special election in 2011 after then-Mayor Bob Duffy left to become lieutenant governor. His term expires at the end of this year.
The mayor said he does not want his early re-election announcement to overshadow the business of running the city. He said, "What I have is a city agenda. I don't want it to get lost in the silliness of politics." Richards added, "What I'm not going to do is spend the next nine months arguing over who sits where ."
Richards is a former CEO of RG&E and served as the city’s corporation counsel under Duffy. He had not ever enrolled in a political party until he became a Democrat as he was exploring his first run for mayor.
City council President Lovely Warren says she is exploring a run for mayor, but has not made an official decision.
