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The president of Rochester's NAACP chapter is running for mayor. 

Walé Elegbede said Thursday he will run on a platform of making Rochester more affordable, welcoming, safe and equitable for everyone living in the city. 

“Rochester deserves leadership that listens to residents, solves problems, tells the truth, and brings people together,” he wrote on his 

Last year, in his role as NAACP president, Elegbede helped draw local and national attention to 

 caught on video in which a white woman called a Black child a racial slur at a city park. Shiloh Hendrix was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, and her case heads to trial this summer. 

Professionally, Elegbede directs strategy management services for Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.  

Rochester's mayoral race is wide open after incumbent Kim Norton 

 earlier this year that she was retiring.

Elegbede is the seventh candidate to declare a run. Others include restaurant and catering business owner 

, and Jess Garcia, a clinical psychologist and former Rochester Public Schools school board member.

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Catharine Richert

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The field of candidates vying for the top office in the city of Rochester is getting crowded. The latest to enter is the local NAACP president bringing the number of announced candidates to seven. 

Rochester mayoral race getting crowded as NAACP’s Elegbede enters

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