Five Candidates Square off Tuesday in Dover's Special Mayoral Election

DOVER, Del. (WBOC) - Dover needs a new mayor, and Tuesday voters get to pick one.

Back in late April, Mayor Carleton Carey abruptly resigned from office.

Five candidates filed to run to be his replacement. None of them are newcomers to running for office in Dover. But they all have differing backgrounds and experience levels inside city government.

WBOC put the same question to each - what's your vision for the future of Dover?

Dave Anderson is a current city councilman. He represents Dover's fourth district.

"My vision for the city is to work for a safer community, to continue the progress we've made on jobs," he said. "I want to see more of that. I want to see a better family environment."

Chevis Anderson is running what he calls a green campaign, which means, for example, no yard signs.

"My vision is for one Dover," Chevis said. "We have a lot of separate, different ideas going on, but a lot of them aren't being pulled together. In the diversity we live in, it takes a lot to make sure everyone has some say in what's going on."

Robin Christiansen spent 18 years on city council, 11 of those as council president.

"I think that we can continue to. We've reached a stagnant point in our time," he said. I think through the economic leadership of the mayor, the city has the opportunity to fill a lot of these commercial spaces that are vacant.

Jeff Reed is a former member of the state board of education.

"One of the things that bothered me when I filed to run for mayor is that there was no job description for the mayor," said Reed. "And I think the mayor of Dover is very important for the vision of Dover. He's the contact person. I think you need someone in that position who has great experience in the city of Dover."

The fifth candidate is businessman Jim Webster.

"I want to really enhance the economic development aspects of the city. There are a number of stores across the city that are closed up, boarded up," Webster said. "Many stores just need to be filled with something new. We have to step up our game."

Polls open Tuesday at 7 am and close at 8 pm.

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