ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Malik Evans, the only candidate listed on the ballot for mayor of Rochester, celebrated his election victory Tuesday night.

“Tonight I want to ask that you join me, not in this victory for Malik Evans, but we need to ask ourselves what can we do to make sure that we have a victory for our city tomorrow?" Evans said Tuesday night.

Evans, whose name appeared on both the Democratic and the Working Families Party lines on the ballot, ran unopposed after he defeated incumbent Mayor Lovely Warren in the Democratic primary in June. Warren conceded the race that night.

“This is not about me, but about all of us and the future of greater Rochester," he said. "Regardless of what ZIP codes you live in. Regardless of what town you might live in. I believe that it is our responsibility to make sure that we take care of those who may have gone to the polls and voted or those that have not. That we send a clear message that we are going to work to build bridges all across our city; every single town, every single neighborhood, in order to make Rochester a great place for all of us to live.”

Evans cast his ballot early Tuesday morning at the Rochester Academy of Medicine on East Avenue. It's the same place where he cast his ballot in June for the primaries.

The former Rochester School Board president entered the race in January, taking on Warren, who ran for a third term while under indictment in a campaign finance case and under fire for her handling of the death of Daniel Prude, with a theme of restoring trust and government transparency.

In his speech, Evans discussed the path forward for the city.

“With the challenges that we have in our community, we have to ask how we can serve our people,” Evans said Tuesday night. “And notice how I am saying ‘we.’ Because it’s not just me that is going to serve, I am asking you to also serve.”

Evans was elected to the Rochester Board of Education in 2003 and served as its president from 2008-2013, overseeing an urban district that consistently posts some of the lowest achievement and graduation rates in the state.

“Our movement in our country and our city calls for us to confront these most pressing challenges that we face, and the only way that we can face them is by facing them together," he said. 

Evans joined Capital Tonight last week to discuss the quirks of a transition from the Warren administration, who will step down from office on Dec. 1 as Deputy Mayor James Smith serves out the remaining weeks of her term. He was also asked about how he will work with Rochester City Council.

Evans has a tough path forward as mayor of Rochester. The city is dealing with increased violence, with the homicide rate already surpassing 2020 levels.