COURTHOUSE — Bobby Dyer, who has served as mayor of Virginia Beach since 2018, will seek reelection in 2024.
“I want to help take our great city to the next level,” Dyer said on Tuesday, April 11, during an interview. “This city is on the threshold of some of the most positive transformation in the history of Virginia Beach.”
Dyer said he wants to continue to build on the city’s successes, which have come while tackling major challenges such as the 2019 mass shooting, the pandemic and governmental changes that included the use in 2022 of a new 10-district voting system after federal litigation.
Dyer, after serving on the council in the former Centerville District, was first elected mayor in a 2018 special election following the resignation of former Mayor Will Sessoms, and Dyer won his first full four-year term two years later. “I will be running on a proven record of achievement and ability to collaborate with elected leaders and the public at large,” Dyer said.
He said he and the City Council have weathered a number of challenges over the year while notching achievements, including the return of the Something in the Water Festival to Virginia Beach. He said the new council, which has shown some disagreements, is beginning to gel. They are working together during the budget process to balance community needs with resources.
“I’m hard-pressed to find a city that made it through Covid better,” Dyer said.
John Moss, a former longtime member of the City Council, on Tuesday, April 11, said he is seriously considering a run for mayor.
“I probably will run for mayor,” Moss said, “but I have not officially declared.”
He said the system used this past year works well, though the city might include aspects such as a runoff of the two top vote getters when there are several candidates in a race. He said Dyer has represented special interests but has “lost his way” representing citizens.
Justin Burns, who has run for local office before, in 2021 established a campaign committee for a possible mayoral run, but campaign finance reports show no funds raised since that time, state records show.
Burns did not return calls seeking comment this past week.
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My Family will not vote for either. Both are Tax and spend Liberals, and they spend way too much of our money on frivolous projects that do not benefit all of VABCH. Then our taxes and rates go up. Both have set VABCH on the wrong path, knowingly. Our rates go up and the housing market is assessed way to high. It brings the bonds up and the City creates revenue, and can say they did not raise taxes. But they did by assessing your home at high price your escrow is short and your mortgage goes up to meet the market they created. All to make money and the Citizen pay. Will our taxes go back down after Mr. Mosses Flood Bond is paid for, absolutely not. Wealth distribution as set forth by this Bond is a Marxist Tactic. It is definitely not Conservative with our Money. Both do not represent the citizens they represent themselves and their parties and the careerist within City Government. All to gain favor instead of doing the right thing. Both are very weak. What we need is true representation and a full time City Council. And a real independent representative.. No more weak party insiders, Republican, Democrat, Tea Party or whatever. We need a true person who is center with common sense and that will to do the right thing for VABCH. Not appeasing to any entity, or class of people, or party. What both have done in the past is appease a certain groups of people and entities. The City of VABCH is an entity. It was never for all of the Citizen’s of VABCH. That is a lie and propaganda we see right though it all. VABCH is headed in the wrong direction.