An Independent candidate has thrown his hat into the 2016 race to become the mayor of Delaware’s largest city.
Steven Washington, who filed the paperwork on Friday, was nominated by the Independent Party of Delaware at a state convention this month. Currently, he is a special education teacher at the Talley Middle School in the Brandywine School District.
His campaign for Wilmington mayor uses “Education, appreciation and communication” as its slogan. And according to the Independent Party of Delaware’s website, his platform includes improving the city’s schools and combating government corruption.
Washington founded and heads the Delaware chapter of the Norfolk State University Alumni Association. He’s also founder and chairman of HBCU Delaware Coalition Inc.
Washington joins a crowded list of candidates looking to unseat incumbent mayor Dennis Williams. City Council president Theo Gregory, former City Council members Norman Griffiths and Kevin Kelley, State Senator Robert Marshall and Delaware Center for Justice advocacy director Eugene Young are running. They - like Williams - are all Democrats.
The city has never elected an Independent for mayor.