A 30-year-old businessman with deep ties to the District jumped into the city’s mayoral race this weekend.

Christian A. Carter, a seventh-generation Washingtonian, boasts a business background that stands in contrast to his opponents, all politics veterans.

He will face three D.C. City Council members and an ex-State Department official in the 2014 contest. Current D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, also an alumnus, has yet to announce his plans.

But Carter said he does not feel threatened by his experienced opponents.

“Just because I’ve been behind the scenes doesn’t mean I don’t understand politics,” he told The Washington Post.

His campaign focuses on three pillars: city development, government outreach and matching D.C. public school demographics to city demographics.

But Carter’s campaign is already facing controversy after subcontractors accused his company of shortchanging them. Carter blamed the pay issues on D.C., because he said the city owes him $100,000.  Copies of emails between Carter’s company and the mayor’s chief of staff, obtained by Washington City Paper, show that Carter did not return emails.