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INDIANAPOLIS — State Rep. Robin Shackleford declared last week that she intends to run for mayor of Indianapolis. She will file the paperwork in about a month or so but said she had a conversation with the current mayor, Joe Hogsett, about the decision before going public.

“I did have a conversation with the mayor and party leadership about my intention to run,” said Shackleford on WISH-TV. “It was received pleasantly. There was no malice, there was no harm. We sat and had a conversation for over an hour talking about the party, talking about improvement that could be made.”

Shackleford, who serves Hoosiers from parts of Indianapolis in the Indiana House and as the leader of the Black Legislative Caucus, went on to call the conversation “fruitful, and not confrontational.”

Hogsett is still considering whether or not he will try to run for a third term as mayor. Shackleford has made it clear that her decision to run is still not dependent on what others do, especially if Hogsett decides to run again.

“It’s not going to change my decision,” she said. “Because my candidacy is not based on anyone or anything, only my role and my goal to improve my community.”

Ways she wants to do that are focusing on violent crime and public safety.

“We can do better,” said Shackleford. “Right now, I see us focusing more on law enforcement and what happens after a crime has been committed. I want to focus more on the preventive side.”

Shackleford also qualified her candidacy to make sure people understand that there is no “infighting” among Democrats for the city’s top leadership position. She said she wants Democrats to have a choice in the future and that it is not healthy to have the same candidate run again and again without other options to consider.

Hogsett has said that he will likely wait until the end of the month to figure out whether he wants to run for mayor again.

As for Republicans, there has not been any chatter on who could challenge the yet-to-be-named Democratic candidate.