Black Lives Matter Activist to seek Mayoral Run in Baltimore

Black Lives Matter activist, DeRay Mckesson, announced that he will be joining the 2016 mayoral race in Baltimore, Maryland. Mckesson, 30, officially filed the paperwork to enter the Democratic primary on Wednesday.

Mckesson's campaign has just 83 days to convince the city to vote for him. Since Baltimore is a predominately Democratic city, the winner of the Democratic primary is expected to be the next mayor after incumbent Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that she will not be seeking reelection.

"Baltimore is at a moment," Mckesson said in a phone interview on Wednesday night to the Washington Post. "I'm running to usher Baltimore into a new era where our government is accountable to its people and aggressively innovative in how it identifies and solves problems."

He added, in his statement reported by the New York Times, "We cannot rely on traditional pathways to politics and the traditional politicians who walk that path. We have to challenge the practices that have not and will not lead to transformation."

Mckesson is the first activist associated with the movement to run for political office. He participated in the protests that were held in response to the death of a teenager who was shot down by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. Mckesson also protested in Baltimore against police brutality.

He will be facing more than 10 other highly qualified candidates, who include former mayor Sheila Dixon, Maryland Senator Catherine E. Pugh, and city councilmen Carl Stokes and Nick Mosby. Dixon is currently leading in the polls.

"It's never happened before, someone coming in this late in a race that's this developed," Patrick Gonzales, who conducted the January poll, said when asked about a situation similar to Mckesson's. "I can't imagine that person being successful."

The primary elections are being held on April 26.