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Lovely Warren, the current mayor of Rochester, New York, is the first woman and second African-American to hold the seat. After winning the Democratic Party primary last month in a resounding fashion, Warren is setting her sights on re-election this coming November.

Warren, 40, was born and raised in upstate New York. She attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice and graduated with a bachelor’s in Government, then entered the Albany Law School of Union University, earning her Juris Doctor degree. She was motivated to become a lawyer after her father was wounded working as a security guard for a grocery store. Cecil McClary passed a day after his daughter was sworn in as mayor on January 2, 2014.

The future mayor’s first foray into politics occurred in 2007 when she was elected to the Rochester City Council. She rose fast and in 2010, she was elected the council’s fifth president, the youngest in city history. In 2013, she announced her mayoral run and won on a platform promoting education and improving services in the culturally and racially diverse city.

In last month’s primary, Warren and her Democratic opponents were embroiled in a brutal campaign with the mayor continuing to promote the value of good education and improved city services. She defeated former Rochester police chief James Sheppard and newscaster Rachel Bernhart by 62 percent.

With the city skewing largely Democratic in both voter registration and interest, Mayor Warren is expected to regain her seat in this November’s election.

PHOTO: J. Adam Fenster, University of Rochester

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