NEW ROCHELLE, NY (January 17, 2023) — Westchester County Legislator Damon Maher has formally notified New Rochelle Democratic Party District Leaders of his intention to run for Mayor over New Rochelle.
“I am hereby formally announcing my candidacy for the nomination of the Democratic and Working Families parties for Mayor of New Rochelle, said Maher at the end of a lengthy email detailing how he came to the decision.
Maher announced last week that he would not run for re-election to the Westchester County Board of Legislators.
“I have decided the right fit for me would be the job of Mayor of my beloved City of New Rochelle,” said Maher. “More importantly, and humbly, I suggest to you that I would be the right fit for the job, based on my many years of engagement and real work in and for the many communities of this City — North, South, East, and West.”
New Rochelle Democrats will hold a convention for Mayor and any contested City Council seats on Thursday, February 16, 2023.
Announced candidates to be the Democrats’ nominee for Mayor are Maher and District 3 Council Member Yadira Ramos-Herbert.
City Council District 3 will be a contested election with Lianne Merchant, Margaret Chadwick and Kwamaine Dixon vying to be the Democrats’ nominee to succeed Ramos-Herbert.
In a deeply personal letter to District Leaders, Maher described ruminating about his decision over the course of the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.
Inter-Religious Coalition of New Rochelle’s Martin Luther King inter-faith Shabbat Dinner and Service at Temple Israel of New Rochelle where Minister Mark McLean’s delivered a sermon themed “Will you be my neighbor?” which drew on the parable of the Good Samaritan,
Bethesda Baptist Church food pantry, where he shared his plan to run for Mayor while bagging fruits and vegetables.
Roman Catholic funeral, where he considered how he would like to be remembered when he is gone.
Shiloh Baptist church where a guest preacher themed her message “Permission to Dream” leading him to ask “Why not dream? Why not dream big?”
New Rochelle NAACP’s MLK remembrance and celebration at St. Catherine A.M.E. Zion Church where a student read a speech that Dr. King gave in 1968, four days before his murder, on the existential peril of the nuclear era.
Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII in 1963, during the darkest days of the Cold War, which he described as his “lodestar for legislating”, that true peace will never exist without recognizing the worth of each individual and their rights to food, clothing, shelter, a means of earning a living wage, medical care, rest, necessary social services, a right to be accurately informed about public events, the right to good general education, and technical or professional training.