State Rep. Shackleford filing Friday to run for Indianapolis mayor

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Another candidate for mayor of Indianapolis will officially enter the race Friday morning.

State Rep. Robin Shackleford (D-Indianapolis) will visit the Marion County Clerk’s Office at 10 a.m. to file the necessary paperwork, according to a statement by her campaign.

Shackleford, 52, an Indianapolis native, has served in the statehouse since 2012 and represents Indiana House District 98 on the city’s east side. She is the chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and a ranking minority member of the House’s Public Health Committee.

Shackleford announced her run for mayor in November. The papers she files Friday will shift her campaign from an exploratory committee to a candidate’s principal committee.

“Indianapolis is a tale of two cities: one with good roads where residents don’t worry about putting food on the table and feel safe in their homes, and another with pothole-ridden streets where residents struggle to get enough to eat and worry that at any moment a stray bullet will travel through their wall and strike their child,” Shackleford said in November.

“We need to bridge the gap between the two different versions of Indianapolis and prioritize making Indy a safer place to live, work, play, and raise a family.”

If elected, Shackleford would be the city’s first Black and first woman mayor.

She will face at least two opponents in May’s Democratic primary — Gregory Mayweather and incumbent Joe Hogsett, who filed for reelection Wednesday.

No Republican candidates have filed to run for mayor, but conservative commentator and attorney Abdul-Hakim Shabazz announced the formation of an exploratory committee in December.