Republican Anthony Merante officially announced his candidacy for Yonkers mayor this weekend.

Merante made the announcement at a campaign kick-off event Saturday at the Mount Olympus Diner off Central Avenue.

The city council member from the Sixth District is the first Republican to announce he's running for mayor of Yonkers in 2023.

In making his announcement, Merante touched on crime and public safety as issues he hopes to address.

"I'm very concerned about the safety issue right now. I mean a lot of these smash-and-grabs are happening, stores are not reporting all this stuff. And what's happening is people are getting scared to go shopping,” he said.

Democrat Mayor Mike Spano is running for his fourth term, which has been met with some controversy due to a change in term limits allowing this fourth term run.

Two Democratic candidates, Prince Robinson and Margaret Fountain Coleman, are also in the running.