Ed. — From the Sunday, July 3, print edition. An easier-to-read version of the candidate graphic above is available in PDF form by clicking on this link.
COURTHOUSE — Candidates are all but set for the 2022 local elections in Virginia Beach under a new, court-imposed system of 10 local districts, and there is potential for change on the City Council and School Board this year.
Local elections are proceeding under a system that resulted from a federal civil rights lawsuit in which a judge found Virginia Beach’s former at-large voting system, which mixed district seats and citywide seats, discriminatory and in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
The city appealed the decision. Oral arguments in the appeal were held in March, but the appeals court has not weighed in, as of Thursday, June 30. So Virginia Beach is proceeding with entirely new voting districts and a system in which, unlike the former system, only voters living within a district determine who represents it.
The filing deadline for candidates was Tuesday, June 21. There are 13 local offices and more than 30 candidates in the mix this year — including open seats, some of which are related to redistricting forced by the federal suit. Candidates shown in the graphic above have filed paperwork and had petitions checked, according to the Virginia Beach Department of Voter Registration & Elections. Certification of candidates by the state is expected this month.
“We made it past the deadline,” Mayor Bobby Dyer said during an interview on Monday, June 27. “Hopefully, the decision on the appeal will be forthcoming. We’ve got the system set. We’ve got the candidates set.”
He said the city is working to make the best of the situation and ensure elections proceed.
“Obviously, the chemistry on council is going to change,” he said. “There’s a possibility of new faces.”
Three of seven City Council races and two of six School Board races have no incumbent.
On the council, there are open seats related to redistricting (District 4, in which no incumbent resides), the death last month of longtime Councilmember Louis Jones (District 8) and Councilmember Aaron Rouse’s decision to run for state senate rather than reelection (District 10).
For the School Board, Districts 4 and 10 have races without incumbents. Both contests feature two candidates who have not sought public office before now.
And two council races have people appointed temporarily running to return to the body.
City Councilmember Rocky Holcomb, a former state delegate appointed to represent the Kempsville District, is seeking the new District 1 seat in a special election in which he faces challenger Melissa Peck.
And City Councilmember Linwood Branch, appointed to the Lynnhaven District seat last year, seeks the new District 6 seat and faces three other candidates. They are Richard “R.K.” Kowalewitch, Cat Porterfield and Worth Remick.
Previous local elections coverage, including information on many of this year’s candidates can be found via this link.
© 2022 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC
Thank you for printing this, so many of us had no idea who was running in districts other than our own. It will be interesting to see the outcome. Guess Rouse hopes to “hold onto his position”, thru his wife winning. Why is it that one candidate seems to be running on “race based” info, rather than what they have done as an active participant citizen of the community in which they reside/or the city as a whole. Still we mostly have “white/poc” and no other ethnic/cultural representation