Brian Adamthwaite will again battle Kay Fraser to be Labor's mayoral candidate for the 2020 Lake Macquarie council election.
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The north ward councillor signalled his intent to nominate for the position in preselection campaign material distributed to the party's rank-and-file members.
"I have been encouraged to nominate for the position of mayor by my fellow party members and I believe I have the skills and vision to take our party forward," he says in the campaign material.
The next term will be a difficult one for the party and I believe I am the best person to guide us through those difficulties.
- Lake Macquarie councillor Brian Adamthwaite
The party's preselection vote to determine its mayor and councillor candidates is scheduled to take place on March 21. Preselection nominations close this week.
Cr Adamthwaite preferred not to comment on "internal party issues" when contacted on Tuesday but confirmed he had distributed preselection campaign material.
Cr Fraser confirmed to the Newcastle Herald she would again be running to be Labor's mayoral candidate, but not as a ward councillor. She served four terms as an east ward councillor before running for mayor in 2016.
Labor sources said Cr Adamthwaite received more votes to be the party's mayoral candidate in the last preselection ahead of the 2016 election, but Cr Fraser won the role with the affirmative action rule, which offers females 20 per cent loading on their vote.
Cr Adamthwaite will nominate to be Labor's mayoral candidate and a councillor candidate in his attempt to gain a third-straight term on council.
"The next term will be a difficult one for the party and I believe I am the best person to guide us through those difficulties," the retired primary school principal said in the campaign material.
The council election is being held on September 12.
The Liberal party is yet to set a date for its preselection process, but north ward councillor Kevin Baker is expected to nominate to be the party's mayoral candidate.
The Greens will return after not contesting the last election due to being late with candidate registration.
The NSW Electoral Commission's register of local government candidates shows former councillor Rosmairi Dawson, a manager at PCYC Morisset, is so far the only registered candidate for Lake Macquarie.
She appears to be running as an independent for west ward.
