An ISU student is considering throwing his hat into the Ames mayoral race, and an ISU faculty member has recently announced her candidacy for the council.

Pete Karagianis, senior in English, will announce soon whether he plans to run for Ames mayor.

Matt Campbell, senior in political science, is Karagianis’ campaign manager and said right now there is a 50-50 chance he will run. Campbell said Karagianis will make a formal announcement sometime next week.

“We’re not sure yet,” Campbell said. “We’re looking for people to help with the campaign. It’s up to him to decide.”

Karagianis plans to graduate next spring. If elected mayor, he would take office Jan. 1.

Robin Habeger, director of business and partnership development for the College of Business, is seeking the first ward seat on council and is interested in getting young people more involved.

“Getting involved now will help Ames be the place people my age want to be in the future,” Habeger said.

Two issues Habeger wants to focus on are the fact that Ames has been declared a metropolitan planning organization and the “one community” initiative.

“Ames has been declared a metropolitan organization and we have an opportunity here to capitalize on that,” she said. “Hitting the 50,000-population mark put us on the radar for all sorts of things, like restaurants and grants. We need to take advantage of it.”