Rochester mayor to seek re-election

Rochester Mayor Thomas S. Richards has made it official: He plans to run again in November.

Fellow Democrat and City Council President Lovely Warren is considering a mayoral campaign, which would force a primary in September. Richards said others may announce their interest in the job. For now, Richards is concentrating on issues relating to the city, the most pressing a looming budget deficit, he said.

“I have no political agenda,” Richards told journalists. “I do have a city agenda.”

Richards, who is the city’s former corporation counsel and was briefly deputy mayor, won a special election in March 2011 after former mayor and current Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy left City Hall for Albany. Richards is seeking a full, four-year term.