Silk City diehard Dave Gilmore is exploring a 2022 run for Mayor of Paterson.

A former IBM aerospace project manager and director of housing for the City of Waterbury in Connecticut, he imposed himself on the 2014 mayor’s race as the candidate least fearful of speaking truth to power.

Now he would offer the additional asset of being a known quantity around the city, he noted.

“I’m being asked,” the once and possibly future mayoral candidate acknowledged this evening in a conversation with InsiderNJ. “I ran before unsupported on a protest platform.”

If he is able to construct backing across key communities he said he would have to run again.

“No decision has been made,” Gilmore told InsiderNJ. “Exploratory is a safe assertion. We remain dissatisfied and disappointed in the lackluster performance of the incumbent.”

The incumbent in this case is sitting Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh.

In 2014, Sayegh and Gilmore both lost to Jose “Joey” Torres, but while  Sayegh remained an antagonist of the mayor, Gilmore emerged as a Torres ally who went into the administration after Torres displaced then-incumbent Jeffrey Jones.

Torres subsequently cracked up on corruption charges.

“I remain the Director of Community Improvements for the City of Paterson, denied free speech about the conditions facing the City,” he told InsiderNJ. “Caught in the midst of a 2nd District Federal Civil rights lawsuit against the Sayegh administration for what winds up in essence a ticket fixing conspiracy.”

Rumors of a second Gilmore run have circulated in Silk City since at least the new year.

Questions about the citywide status of Alex Mendez also persist. Mendez must first stare down an indictment in a much publicized voter fraud case, and if he can wriggle through that, he could emerge as another contender to the the throne now occupied by Sayegh.

For his part, Gilmore intends to size up the situation and would run with the intention of giving voters the option of someone with executive experience.

“I’m not crazy,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle against a well-financed incumbent that can reward supporters versus someone working for the disconnected.”