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Windsor’s mayoral campaign will be a true battle when chamber of commerce president and CEO Matt Marchand formally announces Tuesday he is entering the race for the top job in municipal politics.

“I am born and raised here, my family has been here for generations,” Marchand told the Windsor Star. “My adult life has been spent working to make this community better.

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“I see unlimited potential, but the only way to achieve that is to work together. I am the person to do that.”

Marchand, 50, has been in a high-profile role as president and CEO for the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce since March 2012. He served for two years as a board member prior to that.

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Starting in 2004, he served as director of government affairs for eight years with the Continental Rail Gateway — a group pushing to get a new Windsor-Detroit rail tunnel.

Before that, Marchand cut his teeth in municipal politics for a dozen years as a key staffer and top advisor throughout the four-term tenure of former Mayor Mike Hurst, between 1991 and 2003.