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Jerry Clifton is looking for another stint as mayor after holding the office from 2019 to 2022. Before that, he served 10 terms on City Council.
Michael O’Neal is a University of Delaware Earth Sciences professor and faculty union official.
Demitri Theodoropoulos is the owner of Wonderland Records. He previously ran for U.S. Senate in Delaware as the Green Party’s candidate in 2018.
Four candidates are running for Mayor of Newark in a special election Tuesday.
One of them is former Mayor Jerry Clifton, who says whoever assumes the seat needs to have experience.
“It’s no time for on-the-job training," Clifton says. "It’s a matter that whoever steps in has got to hit the ground running and take off on day one to understand the issues and start moving forward with a lot of the issues at hand.”
Clifton says he originally didn’t run for reelection in 2022 because, after 22 years in city government, he wanted to pass the torch. But former Mayor Stu Markham’s resignation was “disappointing,” he says, and he wouldn’t toss out the idea of running for another full term in 2025.
Clifton says the city’s biggest issue right now is a lack of revenue streams. He says he would consider revisiting the lodging tax passed a few years ago, and increasing fines.
Last week, University of Delaware professor and climate scientist Michael O’Neal and Wonderland Records owner and one-time Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate Demetri Theodoropoulos participated in a League of Women Voters forum, answering resident concerns about UD, development, and sustainability.
O’Neal says as an officer in the faculty union, he thinks he can be a good negotiator between the city and the university.
“To me, Newark is nothing without the University of Delaware, and the University of Delaware is absolutely nothing without Newark," O'Neal says. "So, finding pathways that make sure that both groups of administrators are thinking about the best, combined interests is one of my primary goals.”
Theodoropoulos says he’s a businessman looking to save money, emphasizing they need to find a revenue stream to save Aetna Fire Company.
“The U of D puts their energy bill on a credit card," Theodoropoulos explains. "If we can talk them out of doing that, or figuring out a better way for them to do that, we could save like $400,000 a year. And I think if we took all that money and put it towards Aetna, I think we’d be okay with the fire company.”
The fourth candidate is last-minute filer James Carley, who declined an interview with Delaware Public Media.
Polls are open on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The winner will serve the remainder of Markham’s term, which ends in April 2025.
