Lovely Warren

She won the 2013 Democratic primary over incumbent mayor Thomas Richards 57 percent to 42 percent.[4]

While Richards endorsed Warren and ended his active campaign, he remained a candidate on the Independence and Working Families lines. The Independence Party created the grassroots Turn Out for Tom campaign in an effort to get Richards re-elected mayor. Warren defeated Richards in the general election 55 to 39 percent.[5]

Warren in the 2014 Labor Day Parade

Warren was sworn in as Rochester's 69th mayor on January 1, 2014. She began her second term on January 1, 2018 after winning re-election in 2017.

Since taking office, Mayor Warren has focused on "job creation, fostering safer and more vibrant neighborhoods and improving educational opportunities for Rochester’s residents."[6]

Warren has launched several strategic initiatives, including the introduction of a Kiva crowd funding loan program, a Vanpool, support for ride-sharing such as Uber and Lyft, and a market-driven community co-operative called OWN Rochester.[7][8][9][10]

Under Warren's direction, the Rochester Police Department underwent a significant reorganization to implement a neighborhood-based patrol model that converted the patrol structure from two Patrol Divisions (each covering half of the city) to five smaller Patrol Sections.[11] The RPD also implemented a successful body worn video program during Warren's first term.[12]

Warren convened an early learning council to help expand Pre-K programs in the city.[13] She also developed a "3 to 3 Initiative" to help children to set three-year-old children on a path to read at grade level by third grade.[14] To help achieve these goals, she eliminated fines for children's books and materials at city libraries.[15]

In December 2016, Warren announced plans to eliminate the city's red light cameras. The insurance industry objected, citing its own studies which showed that cities that had used red light cameras between 2010 and 2014 had had a 21% drop in the number of fatal red light running crashes, while cities that had stopped using the cameras had had a 30% increase in such deaths. In response to these studies, Warren justified her decision to remove the cameras by saying, "I reached the conclusion the benefits simply don't justify a further extension... I'm very concerned that too many of these tickets have been issued to those who simply can't afford them, which is counter-productive to our efforts to reverse our city's troubling rates of poverty."[16]

Warren's Facebook account was temporarily suspended on December 22, 2014, when pictures of a chat log were shared over the internet and social media.[17]

Following the 2017 Rochester mayoral election, in which two of Warren's opponents in the election filed separate complaints, the New York State Board of Elections found evidence that Warren's campaign violated finance and campaigning laws with her PAC and alleges that the mayor was directly involved. Warren's lawyer has denied the charges.[18][19]

In October 2020, Warren was indicted on two felony charges of breaking campaign finance rules.[20][21]

Though designated as an elector in the 2020 Presidential Election,[22] New York Assembly Majority leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, served as her alternate.[23]