By the time a noon filing deadline passed, four more candidates joined the race for South Bend mayor.
“The most important thing we can do for our city is job creation,” said Republican Wayne Curry, who works as a contractor. “I believe if you create enough jobs, put people back to work, most of the rest of the problems will wind up taking care of themselves.”
Republicans are facing an uphill battle. There has not been a Republican mayor of South Bend in 40 years.
“I’m a realist, so you have to, your odds are two to one against you, so it’s an uphill battle from the get go, but we’re going to work hard and see what we can do,” said Curry.
While Curry was the first G.O.P. mayoral candidate to file today, two others quickly followed.
“I'm not taking or answering any questions right now, but my e-mail address is taylor4mayor2011@aol.com if anybody would like to mail me any questions I’ll answer every question through the e-mail," said Republican candidate Will Taylor.
The third candidate vying for the G.O.P. mayoral nomination is William “Bill” Davis, a current resident of The Wooden Indian Motel who once challenged Mayor Steve Luecke in the Democratic primary. He is now running as a Republican.
"I am an independent. When people ask me why are you running under the Republican or Democrat if you're independent. What's the difference between a conservative or liberal? It's the matter of thought and that's the same with here with me being an independent. It's the thought of the independent people," said Davis.
Only one new Democrat joined the race for South Bend mayor today.
Attorney Felipe Merino, 35, is originally from California. He first came to South Bend in 1998 to attend law school at Notre Dame.
“I’m running because we need businesses, we need investment, we need somebody to take care of graffiti, somebody to fill our potholes, we need somebody who is going to make sure that the west side and the east side of South Bend are both being taken care of,” said Merino.
Also on Friday ahead of the noon filing deadline, SBCSC School Board member Stephanie Spivey filed as a candidate for an at large seat on the city's Common Council.
