In long-odds bid for mayor, Maurice Neblett pushes for people-first approach at City Hall

Maurice Neblett is running to be Richmond’s mayor without much money and without the type of professional campaign help his better-funded opponents have. In his telling, the lack of big donors is a badge of honor, a sign he’s a candidate for the people, not the special interests.

When his opponents get big checks, he said in an interview, the people writing them expect something back.

“They're being given a favor, and they have to return that favor,” Neblett said. “And that's the reality of politics as usual. And I'm bringing something that's going to dismantle that.”

A self-described entrepreneur and community organizer, Neblett, 35, is running as the true outsider in the five-person mayoral race. He has argued he has a stronger grasp on the challenges Richmonders are facing because, unlike others in the race, he’s lived them himself.

At mayoral forums, he has described growing up in public housing and group homes after losing both parents at an early age. After being raised by “the village,” he said, he had to rely on his own tenacity to get a criminal justice degree from Virginia Union University and start security-related businesses before launching a long-odds campaign for public office.

“I just knew I had to do good for myself,” Neblett said. “So I'll be able to do good for others.”

Neblett said it’s his experience in the community he was born and raised in that sets him apart from his opponents. While others might need to come in and ask what problems Richmond residents are facing, Neblett said, he already knows them from having “boots on the ground.”

Unlike some other candidates, Neblett is less convinced the city’s political class has made Richmond better off today than it was a decade ago. A rental that may have gone for less than $1,000 a decade ago, he said, is now closer to $1,600.

“I mean, how has that gotten better?,” he said.

Neblett is promising to bring a people-first mentality to City Hall, but to get there he’ll have a steep hill to climb. In a race where most other candidates have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, Neblett had raised a little less than $3,000 by the end of August, much of it self-funded.

Neblett said he’s producing much of his campaign material himself. It might not be the best, he said, but it’s also not the worst.

“From the beginning, I had to implement all skill sets in order to initiate this campaign, because I know it takes money,” he said. “So with the marketing material, I've done that. With the campaign strategy, I've done that. So everything that they paid or had someone to help them with, I had to take initiative to, you know, put my skill to work.”

The do-it-yourself nature of Neblett’s campaign has at times produced surprising messages.

When the topic of Planned Parenthood clinics came up at one forum last month, Neblett said he supported the city’s recent deal that will help the organization open a new facility at a property the city owned. He added that Richmond should also have “pro-life” facilities for balance, a line that could’ve been fatal if uttered by one of the top contenders running as champions for abortion rights.

Neblett has emphasized public safety, better schools, affordable housing and economic growth as his top issues. As a newcomer to Richmond politics, he has also stressed the need to make City Hall more accountable to the people it serves.

“My commitment to transparency is foundational,” he said. “I believe that open government, where every resident sees and understands how their tax dollars are being used, is important.”

He has said he wants to launch an “accessible online platform” so residents can see what the city is prioritizing in its spending.

“I aim to empower our citizens,” he said.

As other candidates have downplayed the possibility that the city could reduce its real estate tax rate as a small step toward slowing the city’s housing affordability issues, Neblett leaned into the issue by going to a City Council meeting and publicly advocating for the rate to be lowered by 4 cents.

“People are penniless, and feel powerless,” he said, adding that he believed any short-term revenue loss could be offset by the construction of more affordable housing projects.

Neblett made local headlines almost a decade ago when he filed a $2.3 million lawsuit against the Richmond Police Department after officers allegedly assaulted him in a botched drug raid. Police had the wrong address when they raided Neblett’s apartment, according to the suit, and they seized no marijuana despite the search warrant being based on the smell of marijuana at the other address the police were investigating.

Neblett hasn’t made that story a major part of his campaign, but when asked about it he said the incident was a “precursor” to his current efforts to seek change in how the city is run.

“My hardships definitely have gotten me here. And that’s the experience. The inside out,” he said. “Can any of the other candidates express a lot of the hardships that I faced and other citizens face?”