A conservative Evansville pastor is now an official independent candidate for mayor. Steve Ary surpassed the required number of signatures to be put on the ballot.
Monday at noon was the deadline for Ary to turn in 664 signatures to the county election office.
He ended up with more than that. The election office verified almost 750 of the signatures on his petition.
That means he’s now one of three official candidates for mayor, along with Republican incumbent Lloyd Winnecke and Libertarian Bart Gadau. Democrats didn't nominate anyone by their June 30 deadline.
If Ary’s name sounds familiar, that's because he spoke often at local government meetings ahead of the event and protested it earlier this year.
READ MORE: Local Pastor Announces Run For Mayor
Ary says his pitch to voters is that he understands their economic woes.
"I have struggled by living from paycheck-to-paycheck," Ary says, "I have struggled with housing that has not been affordable, I have lived in poverty in this city, and I have even lived in homelessness in this city."
And he says ending homelessness would be at the top of his to-do list if elected.