There are some notable candidacy filings emerging after Tuesday’s deadline. Independent Paul Long has secured a spot on the City Council ballot, Brian Wheeler writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. The eleven year resident moved here from Pennsylvania, and works for the UVA Medical Center. He says he’s running on the decriminalization of drugs (which isn’t actually something the city can do), creating a regional transit authority, and financially supporting local organizations that are helping the homeless. Independent candidate Andrew Williams won’t be on the Council ballot after all, the Progress reports, after he didn’t manage to get the required 125 petition signatures to get on the ballot. He’ll be running as a write-in candidate. And, finally, Del. David Toscano has a challenger in the form of independent Robert Brandon Smith, who has secured a spot on the ballot, Brian McNeill reports in today’s Progress. The Belmont resident “works odd jobs as a carpenter,” McNeill writes, describes himself as a “militant green,” and says that his top priority is to “kill” the Meadowcreek Parkway. He also says that he’s “concerned about the curriculum of the university” and he’d “like to see homework abolished forever” in the local school system.
Given that Republicans have ceded these seats to Democrats, independent competition like this is inevitable.
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