Councilmember Mary Lupien Announces Run for Mayor

Rochester City Councilmember Mary Lupien has announced her candidacy for mayor, setting the stage for a potential primary challenge in 2025.

“It is out there! I’m running to be our mayor. Stay tuned for our formal announcement in the coming days,” Lupien wrote on her Facebook page this week.

Lupien, a vocal critic of current Mayor Malik Evans, is the third candidate to enter the race. Evans officially announced his re-election bid last Friday, while businessman Shashi Sinha declared his candidacy earlier in the week.

First elected to the City Council in 2019, Lupien represents the East District. She plans to seek the Democratic nomination against Evans, emphasizing the need for “bold new solutions” to address issues facing the city.

“Our city needs bold new solutions to ensure that this generation and the next have the opportunity to live their lives to the fullest,” she wrote on her website. “We all know the problems facing our city: rampant child poverty, run-down housing, a broken public safety system, and a brewing affordability crisis.”

A native of Pennsylvania, Lupien moved to Rochester in 1999 to study information technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After earning her degree, she worked in corporate IT before transitioning to community service roles, including positions at St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen, the Catholic Family Center, and as a bilingual reading interventionist at Henry Hudson School No. 28 in the Rochester City School District.

Lupien resides in the Beechwood neighborhood with her husband, Jesse, and their daughters, Maya and Wren. She has served on the Beechwood Neighborhood Coalition board since 2018.

The Democratic mayoral primary is scheduled for June 2025, with the general election set for November. Lupien’s announcement is one of several expected in the coming months.