Since Janice Davis filed to run for Akron mayor, many have speculated on why she entered the race.Did Mayor Don Plusquellic or Council President Marco Sommerville put her up to it, hoping to draw away votes from Councilman Mike Williams, the third and better-known candidate in the primary?The outspoken Davis denies this — as do Plusquellic and Sommerville — and offers another explanation.“I wanted the job,” said Davis, who has never before held office. “I ran to be mayor.”Davis, who got threatening phone calls, emails and visits after filing to run (she even filed a police report when the rancor reached an uncomfortable level) may have regretted at times jumping into the fray, but she stuck it out.The winners of the Sept. 13 Democratic and Republican primaries will face off in the Nov. 8 general election. The Democratic race is among Plusquellic, Williams and Davis. Jennifer Hensal and Katie Marie Wilkins are in the GOP primary.The Beacon Journal set out to find out more about Davis, Hensal and Wilkins, who have taken the back seat during the primary race to Plusquellic and Williams.Janice DavisDavis entered the political realm two years ago, when she ran for Akron City Council as part of a reform slate of candidates.She said she had already planned to run for the Ward 3 seat, challenging Sommerville, when former Akron Councilman Joe Finley asked her to join his reform slate.“I felt as though Marco wasn’t doing enough in the black community,” said Davis, who works for Bank of America and is getting her doctorate. “I had to get past my anger with him — to start to ask questions.”Davis feels similarly about helping circulate petitions for the failed effort to recall Plusquellic in 2009.“What I was hearing I agreed was wrong,” she said. “I had to stop later on, when all was said and done, and get more involved in researching and studying politics. I began to realize chaos never solves anything.”One of the biggest criticisms of Plusquellic during the recall effort and repeated by Williams in the current campaign is that the mayor travels too much. Davis thinks the Akron mayor needs to travel abroad to attract companies to the city.“For Akron to grow, you have to look into foreign opportunities, as well as opportunities within the country every day,” she said.Davis also agrees with Plusquellic that Williams’ promise to not lay off firefighters or police is unrealistic. “I’m not going to make a pledge to you that I won’t lay you off,” she said. “I don’t know what kind of funding Akron will have.”Davis developed a six-page list of strategic recommendations. They include:• Assessing Cabinet positions.• Ensuring minorities have an equal opportunity to bid on work.• Exploring high-speed transportation in Northeast Ohio.• Increasing commercial zoning in neighborhoods and convening a diverse team of citizens to address crime and safety issues. Davis thinks this team should include ex-convicts, who can encourage others to avoid their mistakes.Davis, who has raised less than $500, describes her campaign as “free-style.” She’s tried to get her message out through Facebook and Twitter and said she’s gone door to door in areas Williams and Plusquellic have not. She said she might run again in four years and would do things differently.“I’d have some money first,” she said. “I’d be much better prepared. I would win.”Jennifer HensalHensal has raised more than Davis — nearly $2,000 — and has given out signs and T-shirts.The Medina attorney, who moved to Akron in March 2010, has never held office. She did apply recently to the party for a judicial opening. She has experience working with local governments as an assistant law director and village solicitor.Hensal is proposing a charter amendment that would make the Akron law director a nonpartisan, elected position. “If the mayor and council are your bosses, you are essentially a mayoral appointment and you may be requested to do things beyond your ethical obligation — in the mayor’s best interest, not the city’s,” she said.Hensal said other cities, such as Wadsworth, have elected law directors. Hensal is Wadsworth’s assistant law director.Hensal said she also would study the budget and search for funds to boost the number of police officers.“We can’t balance the budget on the backs of safety forces,” she said. “If that means cuts from one area to get money for others, that’s what it means.”Katie Marie WilkinsInformation about Wilkins would have been provided if the Beacon Journal had been able to reach her.Wilkins did not return messages left on her phone and her campaign treasurer’s phone and delivered through county party leaders. She did not submit information to the Beacon Journal and the League of Women Voters of the Akron Area’s voter guides or respond to interview requests from the West Side Leader and WAKR. The Akron Press Club was unable to reach her to set up a GOP debate. No one, including her opponent, has seen Wilkins at any political events or knows anything about her. Some think she is or was a University of Akron student, but she isn’t tied to the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.“I have not come across her,” Hensal said.Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.