deray mckesson mayoral campaign
Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson speaks during the GLAAD Gala in San Francisco, Nov. 7, 2015. Getty Images/Kimberly White

DeRay Mckesson, a leading voice in the national Black Lives Matter social justice movement who this month announced a bid for Baltimore mayor, Friday released a pair of campaign videos made to be shared over social media websites, such as Facebook. The videos, first reported by BuzzFeed News, debuted on a new website for Mckesson’s campaign.

Titled “Together We Will Win” and “Love Is The Why,” the videos were made by the Democratic firm Chi/Donahoe, which has been hired by campaigns for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, among others, BuzzFeed reported.

One of the videos features the mayoral candidate’s father, Calvin Mckesson, while the other clip features testimony from friends and supporters. McKesson, in one video, said Baltimore remains a “city of promise and possibility,” despite recent civil unrest over a local case of police brutality.

“The traditional pathways to politics and the politicians who follow them have never led us to the transformational change that our city deserves. I’m not an insider,” Mckesson said. “But I am an activist, an organizer, an educator, a brother, a son and a citizen of Baltimore — someone who knows that this city is a city of promise and that it can be more than it is today.”

Mckesson, 30, announced his candidacy Feb. 3 after filing the required paperwork within minutes of the deadline. He is a Baltimore native who has been widely sought out for his views on criminal justice reform. McKesson was among a number of Black Lives Matter activists who organized justice-themed meetings with Democratic presidential candidates former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in recent months.

The activist will be running as a Democrat against 13 other members of the party, as well as four Republicans, three members of the Green Party and a Libertarian, the Baltimore Sun reported. Among Democrats, emerging as the victor in a crowded primary election in Baltimore virtually ensures that candidate to win in the general election, because the city is so heavily Democratic.

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