Anne Marxer, a director for the Daily Kos, an online political forum, officially filed May 17 to run for Berkeley City Council’s District 4 seat — the seat currently held by Councilmember Kate Harrison.

Marxer moved to Berkeley in the early 1990s and has lived in District 4 since 2003. Her platform focuses on addressing homelessness and crime rates in District 4.

Marxer graduated from Mills College with a degree in mathematics in 1993 and received her Master of Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in 2010. She is also on the board of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and has served as its treasurer since 2015.

“I’ve always been focused on national politics, and just recently, I dove into local politics,” Marxer said. “I’m good at listening to people, figuring out a solution and finding a way to get past red tape.”

According to Marxer, crime has increased in District 4 and is a concern for residents. In order to address increased crime, Marxer suggested adding more streetlights and figuring out why crime has increased so that the city can address the root cause.

Berkeley should employ a “housing first” approach, Marxer said, and should build “regional partnerships” to address the city’s homelessness issue. She added that she works in Downtown Oakland and sees that the city faces “similar problems.”

“We should be putting our heads together to figure out a solution for the regions,” Marxer said.

Harrison said homelessness and crime are both “critical issues” and that the council has been “hard at work” in tackling them.

As a director for the Daily Kos, Marxer helps with planning projects and “getting stuff done,” she said. Marxer said strategic thinking, budgeting and planning come naturally to her.

Before working at the Daily Kos, Marxer was an executive director for MSCI, an investment research firm where she worked for 12 years. She said she was also previously a “shop girl” for the Jacqueline West dress shop in Berkeley.

Greg Magofña, who is also running for the District 4 seat, said Marxer is a “very sharp woman” and that he is “glad that she wants to get involved locally.” Harrison said she met Marxer as a constituent five months ago and that she “seems like a very pleasant person.”

Marxer said she was “drafted” by her neighbors to run for City Council, adding that her desire to help her neighbors is a “driving” force behind her campaign. She said that after attending City Council meetings and looking into what the position means, she realized that as a City Council member, she could be in a position to help people.

“I’m a progressive committed to progress,” Marxer said.