ATLANTIC CITY — Surrounded by friends, family and supporters inside the Civil Rights Garden, Pamela Thomas-Fields formally kicked off her campaign for mayor Monday afternoon.
Thomas-Fields, 52, said her campaign would be centered around being the community’s “voice for change.” The city employee and adjunct Stockton University professor is seeking to become the city’s first woman mayor.
“My administration will be the needed change for the city,” Thomas-Fields said. “We will make the change in this community that it so desperately needs. ... I am not committing myself to all of you, and to work harder, as a joke. This is a passion. And I truly believe, with everyone here today, we can be victorious together.”
Thomas-Fields is the first candidate to officially launch a campaign to challenge incumbent Mayor Marty Small Sr., who assumed office in October. Small and Thomas-Fields were among three nominees selected by the Atlantic City Democratic Committee, along with Chairwoman Gwen Callaway-Lewis, to replace former Mayor Frank Gilliam Jr. after he pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and resigned.
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Callaway-Lewis and 2nd Ward Councilwoman LaToya Dunston — who was nominated by the Democratic Committee and selected by City Council to replace Small when he vacated the seat — were present Monday at Thomas-Fields’ announcement.
Small has not yet submitted a petition to run in the June primary because he said he is “focused on the change of government referendum” set for March 31. If the referendum is successful, there will not be a directly elected mayor in Atlantic City.
In the four months he has been in office as mayor, Small has touted his “vision” for the city and rolled out several policies and reforms, including a zero-tolerance initiative on Atlantic Avenue, a code-enforcement review committee and an employee of the month program to boost city employee output and morale.
While not directly mentioning the mayor by name, Thomas-Fields said Monday that “resting on vision alone isn’t nearly enough.”
“It is our obligation to turn a civic vision into a civic reality,” she said.
Citing the late Barbara Hudgins, the city’s first African-American woman elected to City Council, as a mentor, Thomas-Fields said she was determined to not let the same political establishment deter her from running as it did to Hudgins in 2001.
“I believe that we have the talent within our city,” Thomas-Fields said. “I believe that we have many people that wanted to embrace helping us, but the door wasn’t open, the opportunities weren’t there for them and they didn’t get a seat at the table. But that’s (going to) change.”
While light on specific policy proposals, Thomas-Fields’s campaign announcement said she wanted to create a “culture of excellence” that focused on forward-thinking ideals. She said she wanted to bring back small-business development, increase partnerships with local trades and unions and capitalize on the city’s two institutions of higher learning, Stockton and Atlantic Cape Community College.
“(I want) a new beginning where our young people can walk through the streets with their heads held high and empowered by the leadership that they see, that is investing time and energy in them,” she said.
The primary election will be held Tuesday, June 2.
Candidates running for mayor this year will serve the remaining 12 months left on Gilliam’s original tenure. An election for a full four-year term beginning in 2022 will be held next year.
Thomas-Fields works in the city’s Planning Department and serves as an adjunct professor at the Stockton University School of Business.
She previously served as president of Main Street Atlantic City and unsuccessfully ran for Atlantic County freeholder in 2013.
In 2018, she was recommended by state Sen. Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, for a seat on the Casino Control Commission but was not appointed.
Thomas-Fields has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stockton University and a master’s degree in administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is seeking to obtain her educational doctorate in organizational leadership from Stockton in 2021, according to the news release announcing her candidacy.
She is a member of the First Ward Civic Association and Atlantic City Women’s March Steering Committee, a founding member of the Stockton University Women’s Leadership Council and serves on the university’s Foundation Board.
