This special double issue of Boardwalk Podcast features interviews with both candidates running for mayor of Atlantic City. Republican incumbent mayor Don Guardian will face Democratic councilman Frank Gilliam this November. Casino Connection Publisher Roger Gros recently met with the candidates to ask how they plan to lead Atlantic City into the future as it struggles to emerge from financial setbacks and state control.
When Don Guardian was elected mayor of Atlantic City in 2013, he beat all the odds—a gay, white Republican in a predominantly African American city, he defeated a sitting mayor by cobbling together a diverse coalition of all creeds, races and sexual orientations. But soon after he was elected, Governor Chris Christie enforced a state takeover of the city, overseeing Atlantic City’s finances and creating a fued between the state and the city that still persists. Guardian is up for re-election in November, facing similar odds he overcame four years ago. He spoke with Publisher Roger Gros, an Atlantic City resident, at his offices in City Hall in August.
Frank Gilliam has been a city councilman in Atlantic City for the past eight years. This year, he received the Democrat nomination for mayor, defeating the popular councilman Marty Small in the primary. He is running against the incumbent mayor, Don Guardian, who has been in office for the past four years. Gilliam is a lifelong resident of Atlantic City and speaks about his views of the city as it is today and his plans to revive the city if he is elected. He spoke with Casino Connection Publisher Roger Gros in mid-October at his campaign headquarters in Atlantic City.
