17-year-old shooting survivor running for Houston City Council

A 17-year-old high school student and activist who survived a shooting in 2016 is now running for Houston City Council.

Marcel McClinton, who will officially launch his campaign at his high school later this month, is running for a council at-large position, hoping to unseat council member Michael Kubosh.

“I have so much love for my city, and I want to make change now and tomorrow,” he told Fox 26 Houston. “I love the activism side of politics.”

A former campaign manager for Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) is part of McClinton’s team, according to Fox 26. The 17-year-old will turn 18 in July, in time for the filing deadline for his campaign.

{mosads}McClinton was teaching Sunday school in 2016 during a West Houston shooting that killed one person and injured others, he told the station.

“It was a terrible experience,” he said. “We had to hide the kids and shelter them, then I sat for an hour as he shot off rounds.”

The Stratford High School senior was a co-organizer for the Houston March For Our Lives, a sister march of the national movement organized by survivors of the Parkland high school shooting.

McClinton is also on Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s (D) gun violence prevention commission, and says in his platform that he will “fight hard to implement the recommendations” of that commission.

Other issues highlighted in his platform include preparation for flooding and storms, support for human trafficking victims and transportation innovation. 

Kubosh, who McClinton is challenging, told Fox 26 that he looks forward to meeting his challenger.

“I’m a grandpa and I love young people,” Kubosh said. “It’d be fun to meet him. Everybody has the right to run so I look to this coming season.”