John F. Barros, the city’s chief of economic development for the past seven years, officially launched his campaign for mayor Thursday, saying he has the experience and skillset to help Boston respond, recover, and reopen after the pandemic.
Barros, who ran unsuccessfully in 2013, joins four other mayoral candidates in the race: city councilors Andrea Campbell, Annissa Essaibi George, and Michelle Wu; and state Representative Jon Santiago, who is also an emergency room physician.
Barros said he is entering the race as an executive who has helped to keep the city humming, led efforts to preserve struggling small businesses, and helped unemployed workers crushed by the pandemic.
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Barros highlighted his history in grass-roots organizing, running a nonprofit, and serving as a top Cabinet official at City Hall, saying the experiences make him best positioned to take the reins from Mayor Martin J. Walsh and lead the city in a safe, just and more equitable way. (Walsh is expected to be confirmed soon as US labor secretary).
“I’m running because I believe I am the right candidate to help Boston meet the challenges of this moment,” Barros said in an interview this week.
He added that he will put his record up against any of the other candidates, nothing his lifelong commitment on key issues.
“I am ready to be mayor today,’' he said.
Barros, 47, grew up off Dudley Street in Roxbury, is the son of Cape Verdean immigrants who excelled in school, catapulted into the Ivy League, and landed in big business in Manhattan. In 2010, he became the first person of Cape Verdean descent to serve on the Boston School Committee.
He came in sixth in the 2013 mayoral preliminary contest, and went to work in the Walsh administration.
Barros said he also plans to prioritize climate change, equity, and inclusion, particularly around affordable housing, and support for the city schools and families. He said he would target the embattled Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, calling it a gem in the city and saying that it needs to be supported and nurtured.
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Barros also said he is proud to have led a city disparity study that showed scant city spending on contracts awarded to Black, Latino, and white women business owners. He pushed back at critics who said that the Walsh administration did not do enough to move those numbers.
Barros noted that the data, though shocking, was not new and pointed to a 2003 disparity study on the same topic that was inconclusive. He said the city did not have clean and clear data to address the critical questions and satisfy the legal definition of substantial disparity. That has now changed with the study, Barrows said.
“We had to make sure that the work that we did was going to ... put the city [on the right track],’' Barros said. “I’m proud of the fact that we have the right tool. I’m proud that the mayor of signed an executive order with aggressive goals ... for the City of Boston with a clear mandate and that we’re going to have reporting and accountability.”
He launched his first campaign at the Haley House, a small business in Nubian Square. On Thursday, the married father of four returned to another small business — Restaurante Cesaria, which he co-owns with one of his brothers and a cousin.
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Like many small businesses, the restaurant has felt the pinch of the pandemic, including the fact that some managers went without pay for stretches, Barros said.
He described his first mayoral campaign as an uphill battle, because he had to work hard at introducing himself to a vast swath of the city while also making the case that he could be their chief executive. But after eight years in the Walsh administration, Barros said, he will effectively make the case that he has the government experience unmatched by anyone else in the race thus far.
Globe staff writer Andrew Ryan contributed to this report.
Meghan E. Irons can be reached at meghan.irons@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @meghanirons.