She voted to oust New Carrollton’s mayor. Now she wants the job.

The New Carrollton City Council member who helped spearhead the effort to remove the city’s mayor from office announced her campaign for mayor on Wednesday.

The announcement from council member Briana Urbina came less than a week after a dramatic City Council meeting where she voted in favor of forcing Mayor Phelecia Nembhard from office over alleged violations of a hiring freeze.

Last week’s 4-1 vote approving the resolution sparked intense backlash from Nembhard’s supporters. One public commenter had to be escorted from the hearing room by police after turning her ire toward Urbina. Nembhard accused Urbina of pursuing a “witch hunt.”

In a Wednesday phone call, Urbina said she had been thinking about running for mayor in the upcoming May election. She denied any connection between her vote to remove Nembhard and her new campaign.

“I really thought long and hard about what to do given the vote that took place last week,” Urbina told The Banner. “I was reluctant initially because I didn’t want it like this.”

Nembhard did not respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.

The former mayor’s removal means the city will hold a special election Nov. 9 to finish Nembhard’s term. The winner must then run in a regular election in May.

If elected, Urbina said a top priority would be overhauling New Carrollton’s government structure. She wants to transition away from the current “strong mayor” system, where the mayor generally has more authority to run daily operations independent of the council.

“The mayors have been preoccupied with the day-to-day affairs and operating as the CEO of the city,” Urbina said. “That holds us back in our ability to advocate in Annapolis, to advocate in Largo and to really be enmeshed in community.”

Urbina said she also wants to reform the local tax structure to shift the property tax burden away from working families and onto corporations.

“I want to raise taxes on large corporate owners of the commercial properties and offer them tax rebates for providing the community with retail and businesses that enhance our quality of life,” she said. “Right now we have many empty storefronts, most significantly Shoppers, and the property owner is not motivated to get tenants because they use their large commercial properties as tax write-offs.”

Urbina also supports a data center moratorium in Prince George’s County, citing concerns over environmental impacts and potential strain on Maryland’s power grid.

Another of her priorities, Urbina said, would be to continue the city’s restriction on police coordination with ICE.

Urbina said she does not see herself as Nembhard’s enemy and hopes to continue the former mayor’s good work.

“I want to do things that are going to enhance the lives of every resident of our city, which includes people who vote for me or people who don’t or don’t vote at all,” Urbina said. “The things that Mayor Nembhard did well are things that I would want to continue.”

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