Two Democrats are vying to be the party's candidate for the top job in one of Westchester's largest and fastest-growing cities -- White Plains.

The mayoral position opened up after longtime Mayor Tom Roach announced his intention to not seek reelection for his current position and instead run for Westchester County Clerk. Current County Clerk Tim Idoni is not running for another term.

Roach was first named acting mayor in 2011 before earning his first full-term in 2013. He was reelected in 2017 and 2021.

Current White Plains City Councilman Justin Brasch and former White Plains City Councilwoman Nadine Hunt-Robinson are now seeking to replace him.

The White Plains Democratic City Committee endorsed Brasch in the race.

Brasch was first elected to the Common Council in 2017 and has served as the Council President and Chair of the White Plains Youth Bureau.

If elected, he said his priorities will be to continue finding more opportunities to build affordable housing, improve police accountability and transparency and build an Intergenerational Center.

"We're growing and we're becoming a world-class city, there are great things we can do and we should be more of a destination," Brasch said.

His opponent, Hunt-Robinson, served on the Common Council from 2014 until 2023, when she did not seek reelection. She said she decided to jump into the race after holding a "Mayoral Listening Tour" to get community feedback on the city's needs.

If elected to the position, she said she plans to protect against over-development, enhance the Community Public Safety Board and institute term limits for the mayor's office.

"I have a lot of experience in advocating for the people with respect to development," Hunt-Robinson said. "That's my strong point, that's what people were interested in."

Both candidates said the future development of the Galleria site, the largest redevelopment project of its kind in Westchester, will also be a main focus if elected.

"I'm personally trying to work with the owners of the Galleria project and I'm trying to convince them to give us more parkland and more affordable housing than our statute mandates," Brasch said.

"How it's built is important because it's the town square," Hunt-Robinson said. "The galleria was the everyday man's mall, it was for the people, so we want to make sure that space doesn't become just an exclusive space."

News 12 asked both candidates what they feel makes them more qualified for the position than their opponent.

"I have a tremendous amount of support from the local Democratic Party and everyone," Brasch said. "I'm proud of that because I am a very, very hardworking person and I will work to make things better."

"Executive leadership experience matters when you're talking about running a city," Hunt-Robinson said. "Someone who's not going to be status quo, someone who is going to push back, who is comfortable pushing back as an advocate for the people."

Lifelong resident and former city Director of Information Services Lenny Lolis is the Republican candidate for mayor and will face off against the winner of this Democratic primary.

There are no other city-wide primary elections in White Plains, but some residents in the Westchester Legislature's 5th District will see another race on their ballot.

Two-term White Plains City Councilwoman Jennifer Puja and Scarsdale Democratic District Leader Tim Foley are facing off in a Democratic Primary to replace longtime county legislator Ben Boykin, who reached his term limits and was unable to run again.

The district includes most of White Plains as well as all of Scarsdale and West Harrison.

The White Plains Democratic City Committee endorsed Puja while the Scarsdale Democrats backed Foley.