Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-5) has been declared the winner in a firehouse primary for Virginia’s 39th District Senate seat, defeating three opponents with 70.6% of the 4,647 ballots cast.
Bennett Parker received 3,281 votes, followed by former Del. Mark Levine with 807 votes (17.4%), Charles Sumpter with 321 votes (6.9%) and former Vice Mayor Amy Jackson with 238 votes (5.1%), according to ballots counted by the Alexandria Democratic Committee.
Four candidates made the 4 p.m. filing deadline Sunday to participate in Tuesday’s firehouse Democratic primary for Virginia’s 39th senate district.
Democratic candidates who paid the $360 fee to meet the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s filing deadline were Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-5), former Del. Mark Levine (D-45), former Alexandria Vice Mayor Amy Jackson and World Wildlife Fund senior executive Charles Sumpter.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and the new City Council were sworn into office on Thursday (Jan. 2), ushering in a new era of city governance with the new year.
Gaskins is the first Black woman to be elected mayor of the city. She stood alongside her husband and two children and took the oath of office from Clerk of the Court Greg Parks onstage at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center (4915 E. Campus Drive) at Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus.
A memory care assisted living facility in Alexandria just got approval to increase the number of beds by doubling up the occupancy with “companion rooms.”
City Council, on Saturday, approved Silverado Memory Care‘s request to increase beds at their facility at 2807 King Street from 66 to 9o. The vote was 5-2, with City Council Member John Taylor Chapman and Vice Mayor Amy Jackson voting in opposition.
After being empty for more than 20 years, a major development for the Victory Center property at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue just got approved.
On Saturday, and without discussion, City Council approved sweeping plans for the first phase in the redevelopment of the 10-acre site. The plan calls for the conversion of the 11-story Victory Center building from office to residential.
Pretty soon email inboxes won’t get those monthly newsletters from Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson. It’s the end of an era in the city, as Wilson leaves office in January.
Wilson is looking forward to it.
Cupcakes, music and fireworks punctuated Alexandria’s 275th birthday on Saturday.
It was a clear night for a party at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street) along the Potomac River. Mayor Justin Wilson and city leaders spoke onstage before handing out thousands of birthday cupcakes.
Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins defeated her two Democrat rivals on Tuesday, effectively becoming mayor-elect as she faces no opposition in November.
The win makes Gaskins the first Black woman to be mayor of the city.
With the June 18 primary for Alexandria mayor and City Council around the corner, candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for what is anticipated to be a low-turnout election.
The only seats in contention for the Democrat primaries are Mayor and City Council, and there is also a single candidate running for Council in a Republican primary.
Outgoing Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson publicly criticized a mailer for Vice Mayor Amy Jackson‘s mayoral campaign that used a photo of former Fire Chief Corey Smedley with her at a city event.
Wilson said at the end of last night’s City Council meeting that the integrity of the city government is at stake, and that it should be insulated from the “vagaries of politics to the extent possible.” Without calling out Jackson by name, he described the mailer and said that former Chief Smedley did not give his permission to be in the ad.
With less than two weeks until the June 18 primary, the city’s zoning overhaul, the failed Potomac Yard arena and residential taxes were among the top issues discussed by Alexandria’s mayoral candidates in the Chamber ALX‘s debate Tuesday night.
Vice Mayor Amy Jackson, Council Member Alyia Gaskins and former real estate developer Steven Peterson were cordial to each other as they were questioned by NBC4 Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey at the George Washington National Masonic Memorial.
