Kevin Acklin wants to talk to you about his family.

It's one of the ways the independent candidate for mayor starts conversations with prospective voters.

"You can't win without connecting to the people," he said during a recent door-to-door campaign swing in Banksville. "Standing outside someone's home, we rarely get into deep discussions about pensions or other issues that are really big in the city. People just want a mayor who cares."

Mr. Acklin, 33, has roots that run deep through South Oakland, where his grandmother still lives. He has stories of his firefighting grandfather, who was battalion chief at the firehouse on McKee Place. He shares memories of his mother, his brothers, the relatives and friends who shaped his youth.

"[Voters] might not know me, but a lot of them know my mother, they remember my grandpap," he said. "It's what Mark DeSantis didn't have [when he ran for mayor in 2007]. He almost got 40 percent of the vote without having that family network in the city.

"I think people want to know you're one of them. I'm not looking to brainwash people. I'm out to introduce myself. Then I find out what's on their minds."

Mr. Acklin, a business attorney, is one of two independent candidates challenging Democratic Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in next month's election. The other is Franco Dok Harris.

"But I'm not living off my father's name," Mr. Acklin said.

How could he? Mr. Ravenstahl is the son of a local magistrate, and Mr. Harris is the son of a Hall of Fame Steelers running back.

Mr. Acklin's father is a convicted felon.

Mr. Acklin was 3 when his father, Timothy Acklin, a man already caught up in drugs and crime, was arrested for the 1979 armed robbery of a store in North Carolina. Sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, family members successfully petitioned to have him transferred to Western Penitentiary along the Ohio River on the North Side, so they could visit him.

"I still remember his number," Mr. Acklin said during a recent visit to the medium-security facility now called the State Correctional Institution-Pittsburgh. "Prisoner 4833."

Because Mr. Acklin and his father share the same birthdate -- May 22 -- some of his earliest memories are of his mother carting him and his two brothers to share birthday cake with their father in the prison yard. He chokes up as he talks about it, he said, because of what his mother went through.

"It was tough. But it was my mom who struggled," he said. "I remember when my dad was released in 1986, she tied ribbons around the tree outside the house. But he fell back into trouble. And there was domestic violence."

His mother, Candee, a nurse at UPMC Presbyterian, divorced his father and has remarried.

"These things happen to people. I hear the stories every day. I get it," said Mr. Acklin, who has dedicated time to pro bono work on behalf of victims of domestic violence. "I had family members who helped me deal with it. I had that support, and now I try to give back."

A graduate of Central Catholic High School, Mr. Acklin studied law at Harvard and Georgetown universities. As a young Republican, he worked for former Gov. Tom Ridge in Washington, D.C., before returning to Pittsburgh five years ago as a business attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, negotiating with lawyers, unions, businesses and politicians.

"I come from a strong Democratic background, but when I was growing up, the GOP was the party of reform, the ones looking to make government more efficient," Mr. Acklin said. "The trouble with the Republican Party is that it doesn't have an urban agenda. Besides, there isn't a Democratic way to solve a problem or a Republican way to solve a problem. There's the right way to solve a problem."

Two years ago, Mr. Acklin launched his first political bid, as a Republican, running against Chuck McCullough for an at-large seat on Allegheny County Council. He lost the race with 43 percent of the vote to Mr. McCullough's 56 percent.

Married and the father of two boys, Mr. Acklin lives in Squirrel Hill. He chose to run for mayor this year as an independent, he said, because "partisan politics have held this city back."

"I envision this as a coalition candidacy," he said. "This mayor has never had a real job, and that's why city government is in the mess it's in. The mayor must be a constant negotiator for the sake of the people in the city, whether he's dealing with City Council, the local unions or people in Harrisburg. I have that background as a negotiator."

Mr. DeSantis said he got to know Mr. Acklin when Mr. Acklin was an attorney with Apangea Learning, where Mr. DeSantis is chief executive officer. The former Republican candidate for mayor said he finds no fault in Mr. Acklin running as an independent.

"I give him the benefit of the doubt," said Mr. DeSantis, who has endorsed Mr. Acklin. "His simple message is, 'Being mayor is not about party affiliation. Look, don't prejudge me out of some narrow political bias. Judge me as a person and as a professional.' I think he's sending a message."

Mr. DeSantis said Mr. Acklin's background in business dealings suits him for the mayor's job.

"That's his skill as an attorney, particularly in dealing with financial and business transactions," Mr. DeSantis said. "He was at my elbow during negotiations with investors, other business people, big companies. Those things get very complicated and very contentious very fast. If you're not careful, they can get very emotional. For somebody his age, he has the maturity and poise and wisdom. And he's the old man in the race."

"That's one of the first things that I noticed about him," said Paul Ellis Jr., a Hill District attorney who has known Mr. Acklin for a couple years. "Kevin has a very hands-on approach when it comes to identifying issues in the community, respecting others' opinions and listening to things that matter to people. He has a common-sense approach when it comes to conflict resolution."

Mr. Ellis, the nephew of the late playwright August Wilson and a longtime Democrat, said he voted for Mr. Ravenstahl in the past.

"But I'm not entirely comfortable with the direction the city is going," Mr. Ellis said. "I don't blame Mr. Ravenstahl for every single thing that's wrong. But I do know the importance of leadership."

Mr. Acklin has modeled his campaign after former Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who swept to the presidency last year on the strength of local organization. Mr. Acklin is focusing his precious political time and resources on front porches where the door is likely to be opened by a registered voter willing to speak with him.

Campaign aides armed with computer printouts from past elections have accompanied him as he has canvassed one neighborhood after another. They skip houses where his message is unlikely to be received.

His goals include neighborhood redevelopment, a larger police force and restoration of the city's pension fund. He said he encounters people who aren't happy with the current administration but willing to put up with it.

"The attitude is that things are going well enough," he said. "Are you kidding? Go to Homewood. Go to Lincoln-Lemington, Brookline or Beechview. See the neighborhoods that are falling further and further behind."

Mr. Acklin is counting on what he perceives as a growing anti-Ravenstahl sentiment. By Mr. Acklin's math, if he can get the votes that Mr. DeSantis got in 2007 "and flip another 18,000 or 19,000" from Mr. Ravenstahl, he could win.

"It's a matter of motivating voters who want change," he said. "If everyone who knows we can do better shows up and votes, we're going to win."

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