People had been suggesting that she run for years, said first-time office seeker Alvera Maduro-Caines, and she certainly considered it. But it wasn’t until the charge of her ailing mother that she committed.

“She said, ‘Go and represent your people. I may not see it, but you should still do it,’” Ms. Maduro-Caines said. Her mother, Cynthia “Gwen” Maduro, died last year.

Ms. Caines had confirmed that she would run for the Sixth District seat during a March National Democratic Party “big tent meeting,” but last Thursday under a tent to keep off the rain, she officially launched her campaign.

About 65 people crowded under tents or on porches behind OneMart to hear her address to the public.

She told the crowd that she has lived in the Sixth District all her life, and that if elected, “I will be here for you all the time and you will see me.”

See the May 19, 2011 edition for full coverage.