Bristol’s OBV alumni mayoral candidate

Marvin Rees, a graduate of OBV’s MP shadowing scheme, is once again up for election after losing to George Ferguson almost four years ago to become the first elected Mayor of Bristol.

In an interview with Louis Emmanuel for Bristol 24/7 Rees said that if he wins the election, on his first day, he will “go and meet all the leaders of the key city institutions. Those are the people who are going to be shaping the city.”

Growing up poor in Easton, greatly influenced Rees’ life but it did not hold him back. Before running for Mayor in 2012 Rees was a broadcast journalist for BBC radio, he has a Masters degree in Political Theory, a second Masters in Global Economic Development, and he is a Yale World Fellows.

He told Emmanuel:

I am black, but I'm mixed race and I grew up in a racially fractured city. Being a mixed race kid, I had to go through the rigmarole of working out who I was in a city in which there were physical demarcations of where you could and couldn’t go. That was a challenging thing”

As the Labour candidate Rees has the chance to become the first mixed race mayor of Bristol, a historic event. When questioned about the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s influence Rees said:

I see a party that is about standing beside people who have been left out by the establishment. And I want to say it’s about the aspirations of communities.”

With his impressive accomplishments, volunteer work, and OBV alumni status Rees is sure to continue to tackle racial injustice and poverty in Bristol with his political knowledge and drive.

Mary Schlichte