Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown is facing a primary challenge as he seeks a third four-year term.

Fellow Democrat Samantha Turner, a two-term member of Youngstown City Council, said she is running in the hopes of taking the city in a new direction.

Brown and Turner each participated recently in endorsement interviews with The Vindicator editorial board and reporter David Skolnick.

We believe both candidates want the same things for Youngstown residents — a better, more prosperous and safer city. Both agree that crime — including gun violence — is a primary concern, but they’re not quite in lockstep on everything.

While their hearts both seem to be in the right places, we believe Brown — with two terms as mayor nearly complete — should be given a chance to finish what he started by Youngstown voters.

Brown touted a 40% drop in Youngstown’s homicide rate over the last four years.

“Crime reduction has been the No. 1 priority for our administration no matter where you live or work in the city of Youngstown,” Brown said. “We have remained committed to ensuring that citizen safety is paramount.”

The incumbent mayor said the city’s police force is “committed to fostering trust and building greater partnerships and relationships throughout our community.”

Turner said one of her primary goals is reducing juvenile crime.

“Who’s committing the murders? It’s the younger generation and the biggest thing that we have to focus on is reducing the juvenile crime,” she said. “That happens with partnership. That happens with mentorship. We focus on the juveniles and what we can do to reduce their propensity to commit crimes.”

Turner believes greater inroads can be made not just by focusing on the city’s homicide rate, but on a problem that plays into violence — drug abuse.

“What’s happening to people inside of the communities, that crime is far worse,” she said. “That’s drug activity. That’s the drug houses, that’s the larceny, all of those things happening in the community.

“People inside of those neighborhoods are experiencing a different type of crime. A drug house across your street for more than a day is a lot for people to stomach.”

Youngstown’s use of $82.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding on multiple projects will also be critical moving forward.

Brown said he wants to see the city create a “real time data center,” make sure the projects from the ARP are implemented and “continue seeing that we get greater improvement in our economics, definitely with our tax base, our income tax revenue and make sure that we can continue attracting businesses that we’ve been able to get them to expand and grow.”

A sharper focus on how to use the ARP funds is needed, Turner said.

“The city has had a lack of a plan and vision to move that forward so we do not have the sustainability that we need,” she said. “The main problems we’ve had with these ARP dollars, where we could have some sustainability and we could see some real strategic growth across the entire region; we didn’t have that. We will just see pockets of things happen.”

Turner said she wants to change that and more in Youngstown.

“Right now as it stands, I feel like the city can use a different direction,” she said. “Not that our mayor is a bad guy. I just do not feel like he is taking the initiative to move the community in the direction that it should go.”

Turner told the editorial board that she is running for mayor “because our city deserves transparent, accountable and responsive leadership. For too long, residents have felt disconnected from the decisions that shape our future. It’s time to change that. As mayor, I will ensure that the government works for the people — not behind closed doors, but in full view of our community.”

Brown told the editorial board that the quality of life for Youngstown residents has improved on his watch.

“Our public-private, city-county, state-federal partnerships have been a crucial component to the success of our city,” he said. “It is evidenced by the reduction in crime, increased safety in our neighborhoods, greater public, private, philanthropic investment, which has improved the quality of life with greater investment in housing, youth and senior citizens.”

Brown and his administration have not yet finished the job they set out to do. But we believe that the experience gained — and accomplishments achieved — during his first two terms have earned him another four years as Youngstown’s mayor.