Fresh blood is coming to political leadership in Annapolis.

In less than a week, Naptown’s voters will elect new faces for mayor and at least four of the eight seats on the City Council.

It should be a transformative election for the state capital, which faces consequential decisions about City Dock and making downtown more resilient, as well as the city’s future as a place to live, a tourist hotspot and home to the U.S. Naval Academy.

For the mayor’s race, current Mayor Gavin Buckley is term limited and could not run again, so voters will pick a new one.

And incumbents are running in only four of the eight races for seats on the Democrat-controlled council, so there will be at least four new alderpersons, if not more.

Election Day is Tuesday, which is also when mail-in ballots must be postmarked by. Mail ballots also can be dropped off by 8 p.m. Election Day. Polls are open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

The Banner spoke with the mayoral candidates, whose comments were edited for clarity and brevity. Below you also will information about the council races.

Candidates for Mayor

Jared Littman

Party: Democratic

Background: Owner of K&B Ace Hardware. Former lawyer, former Ward 5 Alderman.

Website: www.jaredforannapolis.com

Why do you want to be mayor?

Simply, I love Annapolis. Annapolis is so great, it’s got so much potential to do even better. My skill set is, I think, very helpful, in helping us achieve better.

What would be your top priority if elected?

The top priority would be getting our 600 or so employees who work for city government truly engaged and part of the solutions in identifying the issues and working together on the plethora of city issues. If any mayor is able to to fully engage our city employees, it’s the multiplication effect. ... Those are all things our residents, who I also refer to as customers, will feel the impact of in a positive way.

Other than party affiliation, what’s the biggest difference between you and your opponent?

I would say I have the trust built in the community from having been engaged in the community for two decades as a business owner, as an alderman, showing up, building relationships. When I start on day one, I’m not figuring out who the people are.

I’m grounded in reality, very optimistic we can control the budget and improve our services, as opposed to someone who blindly says there is a bloated budget without saying what he would cut.

As mayor, how would you handle the plan for City Dock, which involves establishing an elevated park with a floodwall on what is now a flood-prone parking lot?

Resilience is really important to me. I’m going to focus on getting City Dock built to what was approved. We know that any sort of pause in rethinking what that design might look like, you’re talking years and years of delays. This is a huge engineering project, I think my background will be helpful.

Anything else people should know?

I would love for voters to think about three things: trust, qualifications and believability in plans.

I have faith in our voters to not be fooled by empty promises and slogans. We can do better without saying everything is bad.

Bobby O’Shea

Party: Republican

Background: Business consultant in the defense and medical industries.

Website: electboboshea.com

Why do you want to be mayor?

I want to be mayor because I really do feel that i have the ability to make a difference, I have the ability to work with people that have differing views, I have the ability to work with people that have my views.

One of the main reasons I want to be mayor is, I want to make it so that people feel as though the place we call home — that we don’t lose that charm, we don’t lose that character.

What would be your top priority if elected?

Top priority, well, the two things that are the most important to me are public safety and our taxes and fees. Obviously, in regards to public safety, what I really want to do is — I’m focusing on — making it so families can feel safe and comfortable.

In regards to our taxes and fees, everything keeps going up. Services, what the place looks like, it doesn’t look like it’s changed much, so where has our money been going?

Other than party affiliation, what’s the biggest difference between you and your opponent?

Here’s where the biggest difference really appears. Annapolis needs a leader. The thing about it is, we don’t need an engineer, we don’t need a lawyer, those are people we work with to come up with solutions. Normally engineers and lawyers are the guys who tell you why something can’t be done.

I am going to have differing views in regards to what other members of the council are going to have. To me, differing views are good because you get better results.

How would you handle the plan for City Dock as mayor?

We need to put a pause. We need to put a pause for a lot of reasons. We really need to have a baseline for where the funding is going to be coming from. We can’t make it so what we do on City Dock turns into a capital improvement that we charge residents for or an added tax we charge residents for.

But City Dock needs to be done. We need to make it so we’re taking care of the flooding issues.

Anything else people should know?

I really feel that people are upset. I want people to know that we may have opposing views, but at least you’re going to actually know what my view is. I want people to know that I am committed. I will serve out my complete term in regards to being mayor. There will be nothing that will take me away from serving the city of Annapolis.

Aldermanic (City Council) Candidates

Ward 1

Incumbent Alderman Harry Huntley, a Democrat who works in environmental policy, faces a challenge from Tom Krieck, a retired home-care industry executive not affiliated with either party.

Ward 2

Republican Ken Vincent, a retired FBI special agent and teacher, is running to unseat Democratic incumbent Alderwoman Karma O’Neill, who is an event planning executive.

Ward 3

Mike Dye, an engineer, is running unaffiliated and faces Democratic candidate Keanuú Smith-Brown, a teacher who has also held various political jobs.

Ward 4

Democratic candidate Janice Elaine Allsup-Johnson, a retired county government employee, is running unchallenged.

Ward 5

Republican candidate Jack Papaleonti, a real estate broker, is challenging Brooks Schandelmeier, the incumbent Democratic alderman and a health care policy worker.

Ward 6

Diesha Contee, the Democratic nominee, is a community navigator and former nursing assistant. She is running against Republican George Gallagher, a biotech consultant and former planning commissioner.

Ward 7

Democratic Alderman Robert Savidge, who is also an environmental scientist/engineer, is running unopposed.

Ward 8

Unaffiliated candidate Will Cunha, a cybersecurity professional and Navy reservist, is running against Democrat Frank Thorp, a retired Navy public affairs officer and USO Worldwide executive.