The results are in from the Charlottesville City Council race, and the Democrats have completely dominated the election. David Brown (22.67%), Kendra Hamilton (23.34%), and incumbent Kevin Lynch (21.44%) took the race by a very healthy margin. For the other candidates, there was 10% for Republican Kenneth Jackson, 11.5% for Republican Ann Reineke, and 4.8% for independent Vance High. Write-ins were quite high, presumably consisting primarily people voting for ousted Democrat Meredith Richards, with 5.2% of votes coming in the form of a write-in. Each Democrat received a very similar number of votes in each precinct, with the notable exception of Recreation, where Lynch was 2.5% behind, a district in which a citywide high of 7% of votes were write-ins. 5,339 people voted, resulting in a turnout of 27.8%. The result is that the Democrats have not lost any seats, as many party members feared, and the Republican victory two years ago is starting to look like a fluke. 05/05 Update: Elizabeth Nelson has a story in the Progress summarizing the win.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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I’m surprised that the victories are so decisive. I had started to assume that we Democrats would lose at least one seat. The city is so heavily Democratic that there’s certainly nothing inevitable about such a loss, but being down here in Blacksburg, it’s hard for me to see any evidence of campaign activity on the part of Democrats. (Or for the Republicans, but it’s my home team that I worry about. :) It seems as if the party has learned from the 2002 debacle and Schilling’s ridiculous performance on Council, and perhaps city residents have, too.
I suspect that Kevin’s total dipped as a result of people voting for Meredith rather than him, but people smarter than I will work that out in the coming days.
My personal observations showed the dems putting out a lot more effort this election than the last. I think the repub showing was so poor because the candidates just weren’t very strong at all. I’m all for unseating a few more dems, but I just couldn’t vote for Jackson, and a vote for Reineke is just a shot in the dark.
If the repubs seriously want to unseat another democrat, they’ll have to put forth better candidates and a lot more effort.
I live in the magical realm of Charmarle. You know the mystic place where you have Charlottesville on your phyiscal and mailling address BUT you techinally live in the county.
The same could be said about County democrats. They might have an excellent chance to unseat Rob Bell, who clearly sided with the ultra right-wing Republicans during this General Assembly session. He certainly showed that he’s nowhere near "moderate." The bills he’s sponsored are pretty far to the right of "reasonable." He doesn’t reflect the average Albemarle citizen – I don’t even think he represents the average Albemare Republican.
First, of course, they need to find a candidate. Second, they need to find a valid candidate.
The Dems can win this thing. They need to start making their case right now, though, while the state budget issue is still on peoples’ minds.
Actually you do live in the magical Charlottesville that won the number one city in the country. What won was the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) of Charlottesville/Albemarle. So be proud and say you live in Charlottesville because the awards the cities wins are for us as well.
"So be proud and say you live in Charlottesville because the awards the cities wins are for us as well."
Be proud or not, an individual option, but do remember a portion of your county taxes plus the various surcharges to individual county residents , help support Cville.
The same could be said about County democrats. They might have an excellent chance to unseat Rob Bell, who clearly sided with the ultra right-wing Republicans during this General Assembly session. He certainly showed that he’s nowhere near “moderate.”
That’s really interesting to hear you say that. Again, I’m physically removed from things right now, so I can’t get a sense of what people are saying. I really want to work to keep Bell from getting any further entrenched, since he went unchallenged last November. Unless Mitch decides not to run for reelection, I think that I’ll put my energies towards unseating Bell in a year and a half. But it has struck me as unlikely that it would be a particularly successful campaign, since Bell represents a rather conservative contingent, what with Greene County.
Sounds to me like I need to give this another think-through. Lord knows I think that Bell has shown his true colors in this budget debate, but that doesn’t mean that it can be sold to the rest of the district. If you figure it can, though, I’ll think about this more seriously than I have been.
The trick, of course, is finding a candidate.
"The trick, of course, is finding a candidate."
Indeed. An in all honesty, while a solid Dem would be the best possible alternative, I realize that may be a hard sell here. However, it would be nice to see Mr. Bell forced to defend some of his positions, which I think are well outside the mainstream of this community (even including Greene). With a campaign that really focused on his far right leanings, I think he could be weakened.
I would like to see it start with a county board of supervisors who will publicize how his positions affect things they can and can’t do, particularly regarding education, public safety, and taxes. They should demand representation that supports their needs, nota representative who would prefer to dictate what their needs should be.
Indeed. An in all honesty, while a solid Dem would be the best possible alternative, I realize that may be a hard sell here. However, it would be nice to see Mr. Bell forced to defend some of his positions, which I think are well outside the mainstream of this community (even including Greene). With a campaign that really focused on his far right leanings, I think he could be weakened.
You’re absolutely right. Nobody took him to task last November, and nobody will this November unless he has competition. The tough bit is that I suspect that the data will demonstrate that a Democrat can’t beat him. Which means that somebody would have to be willing to be a sacrificial lamb. That is, I firmly believe, an honorable and good thing for somebody to do — run against somebody just to ensure that competition exists. But it’s a bummer of a job.
Yes, it would require somebody with a stout constitution. It wouldn’t be easy to win.
Remember when Allen ran for Governor? He did such an effective job running against RobbWilderTerry. I could see somebody taking on GilmoreHowellBell and getting noticed. There’s a lot there to run against! Bell might be hard to beat, but Gilmore and Howell make great targets.
But yes, the hard part is finding the right candidate. And it needs to be somebody who approaches it to win, not to be a sacrificial lamb.
As you may know, I have been following this election. Your numbers assume that each voter could select the same candidate 3 times. Actually, 65% of those who voted chose Kendra Hamilton, not 22.67% (meaningless precision). And actually 29% of the 5,339 who voted selected Kenneth Jackson, not 10%.
Did you know that only 17% of elegible voters checked the box for Hamilton? 65% of those who voted, 17% of those who could have voted, the registered voters. What does 23.34% mean?
What’s interesting about the Progress’ coverage is that their story did not provide the election results breakdown by precinct. I guess their readers aren’t smart enough to waste space on. (Dems sweep council: Council dominated by Democrats, By Elizabeth Nelson / Daily Progress staff writer, May 4, 2004, http://www.dailyprogress.com/ )
For this same story but with a different bias, along with a map of the precincts and wards and breakdown of each candidate in each precinct, and link to a detailed city ward map, check out the unpaid competition.
Dems keep Charlottesville: Stay the course, don’t look back
http://www.cvilleindymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=481