Redd announces run for Camden mayor

By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Sun, Feb. 8, 2009

With New Jersey Democratic heavyweights framing her as Camden's Barack Obama, State Sen. Dana Redd announced her candidacy for mayor yesterday.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation to believe," Redd, who is also vice president of City Council, told 200 people under a tent on the street in the Centerville section where her mother grew up.

Running under the motto "United for Change" with a logo reminiscent of the Obama O, the 40-year-old Redd said she would bring jobs, safety and racial harmony to one of the poorest and deadliest cities in America.

Redd, who is vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Committee, also announced her slate of Council candidates: newcomer Marilyn Torres and incumbents Gilbert "Whip" Wilson and Curtis Jenkins.

Redd made a series of promises, including cleaner streets, fewer abandoned buildings, job opportunities, rebuilt commercial strips, and more partnerships with church groups and organized labor.

"We are confident, and we will not give up on Camden," she said to applause.

Redd is a lifelong resident whose parents were victims of gun violence when she was 8.

Raised by a grandmother, she graduated from Rutgers University-Camden and went on to direct the Camden County Department of Buildings and Operations and chair the Camden Housing Authority. She was elected to Council in 2001 and to Sen. Wayne Bryant's seat in 2007.

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