Evans touts violence reduction and urban investment in his second bid for office

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans has announced his bid for a second term in office.

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Evans, a banker and former Rochester City Councilmember and Rochester City School District board member, was first elected to office in 2021. That year, he defeated incumbent Mayor Lovely Warren in the Democratic Primary, as the former mayor was embroiled in scandal surrounding her campaign finances, as well as the raid of her home and the arrest of her then-husband on drug charges.

In vying for a second term, Evans has touted reducing violent crime as his prime focus in office.

“Although we have fallen to pre-pandemic levels, I could easily let the gun violence state of emergency lapse because it has done its job,” Evans said, in a phone interview Friday. “It’s done what we needed it to do, in terms of over a 50% reduction in gun violence. But I want to send the message that I want to get to functionally zero gun violence.”

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In 2021, the year Evans won the office, Rochester hit a record annual homicide count of 85, five of which were deaths from incidents that occurred in previous years. Likewise, shootings soared, with 419 people shot in the city this year, according to Rochester Police Department data.

In 2024, that number dropped to 47 homicides, two of which were deaths from incidents in previous years. Just over 200 people were shot in the city in 2024, less than half the number from 2021.

“We still have a long way to go, but through my leadership, and I always say it’s we, not me, through innovation and collaboration, we have been able to tackle some of Rochester’s most challenging issues,” Evans said.

Evans also pointed to major city investments as some of his key accomplishments in his first term. Among those are the forthcoming High Falls State Park, the moving of Constellation Brands to a new facility on East Broad Street, and, most recently, the securing of $100 million in federal grants for the filling in of the Inner Loop North.

That funding, announced earlier this week by Sen. Chuck Schumer, adds to a $100 million state grant awarded by Gov. Kathy Hochul two years ago. Originally thought to fully fund the project, the estimate of costs to fill in the urban highway later ballooned.

Evans described the funds as part of “unprecedented investment” in the city.

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“We needed $200 million, we’re at $200 million,” Evans said. “We got the first $100 million my second month in office, and the other $100 million just a couple of days ago. That is a huge component.”

So far, only one challenger has appeared in the race against Evans. Shashi Sinha, a Democrat, announced his candidacy for office earlier this week. Sinha, an IT executive, is a first-time candidate, and will challenge Evans in the Democratic Primary in June.

Sinha is running on a platform of cutting property taxes by 40%, building over 4,000 new residential units, and decreasing violent crime, among other goals.

Other candidates for the office are expected to announce their runs in the coming weeks.