election | ALXnow

Alexandria candidates launch campaigns, Gaskins and Chapman lead in fundraising

Published January 29, 2024 at 2:30PM | Updated January 29, 2024 at 6:07PM

Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins kicking off her mayoral campaign at Indochen in Cameron Station, Jan. 28, 2024 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria’s political scene is heating up, as a number of Democrat candidates formally launched their campaigns over the weekend.

City Council Member Alyia Gaskins held a packed kickoff at Indochen in Cameron Station on Sunday, following her opponent Vice Mayor Amy Jackson’s kickoff on Jan. 21 at Doyle’s Outpost in the West End. On Saturday, City Council Member Kirk McPike launched his campaign at Pork Barrel BBQ in Del Ray and City Council Member John Taylor Chapman did the same at Port City Brewing Company.

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Del Ray’s Jesse O’Connell joins race for Alexandria City Council

By James Cullum

Published January 26, 2024 at 1:30PM | Updated January 29, 2024 at 11:16AM

Del Ray's Jesse O'Connell is running for the Alexandria City Council (courtesy photo)

Del Ray’s Jesse O’Connell has thrown his hat into the City Council race.

O’Connell launched a campaign website this morning and announced his intention to run in an email.

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Former Teamster and substitute teacher Tim Beaty sworn in to Alexandria School Board

By James Cullum

Published January 19, 2024 at 10:55AM

Tim Beaty is the new District A School Board member (via ACPS)

There’s a new member of the Alexandria School Board. Tim Beaty, the retired former global strategies director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was sworn into office on Thursday night.

Beaty won a special election on Jan. 9 to fill the seat vacated by former School Board Member Willie Bailey. He will fill the remaining 11 months of Bailey’s term before the next School Board is sworn into office in January 2025. During that time, he said that he wants to help Alexandria City Public Schools edge closer to a collective bargaining agreement with staff.

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Early voting for Presidential primaries kicks off this week

By Vernon Miles

Published January 17, 2024 at 2:55PM | Updated January 17, 2024 at 3:35PM

A voter participates in the Super Tuesday primary at Mount Vernon Community School, March 3, 2020 (Staff photo by James Cullum)

(Updated 3:35 p.m.) Early voting will start on Friday, Jan. 19, for the dual Presidential primaries.

The primaries are scheduled for March 5. The deadline for early voting is March 2.

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JUST IN: Retired Teamsters deputy director wins Alexandria School Board special election

By James Cullum

Published January 9, 2024 at 9:19PM | Updated January 9, 2024 at 11:30PM

Tim Beaty asking for signatures to run in the January 9 special election for the open Alexandria School Board seat, at the Alexandria Democratic Committee's monthly meeting at Alexandria City High School on Dec. 4, 2023 (staff photo by James Cullum)

(Updated at 11:30 p.m.) Tim Beaty, the retired former global strategies director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was declared the winner in tonight’s special election for the open School Board District A seat. He defeated Gina Baum, an Alexandria City Public Schools parent and former longtime member of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission, and will be sworn into office next week.

Beaty won the election 1,270 votes (56%) to Baum’s 962 votes (43%), and 5.5% of the registered voters in District A (41,335 voters) cast ballots on this rainy Tuesday. District A includes Old Town, Del Ray, Potomac Yard and Arlandria. The results will be certified in the Alexandria Voter Registrar’s office near City Hall on Friday.

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Key endorsements heat up Jan. 9 Alexandria School Board special election

By James Cullum

Published January 4, 2024 at 10:45AM | Updated January 4, 2024 at 11:54AM

Tim Beaty and Gina Baum, the candidates in the Alexandria School Board's Jan. 9 special election for the open District A seat (staff photos by James Cullum)

There’s less than a week to go until the Jan. 9 special election for Alexandria’s open District A School Board seat, and things are getting interesting.

With a focus on helping Alexandria City Public Schools craft a collective bargaining agreement with staff, retired labor leader Tim Beaty has secured key endorsements from the two other School Board Members in District A — Board Chair Michelle Rief and Jacinta Greene, as well as from City Council Members Canek Aguirre and Kirk McPike, Sheriff Sean Casey, NOVA Labor and the Education Association of Alexandria teachers union.

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The Alexandria City Council’s democratic primary field is getting crowded

By James Cullum

Published January 4, 2024 at 9:30AM | Updated January 4, 2024 at 3:01PM

(Clockwise from top left) Alexandria City Council candidates Charlotte Scherer, City Council Member John Taylor Chapman, City Council Member Sarah Bagley, School Board Member Abdel Elnoubi, Council Member Kirk McPike and James Lewis announce their candidacies to the Alexandria Democratic Committee on Jan. 2, 2024 (staff photo by James Cullum)

(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) The field of candidates is getting crowded in Alexandria’s Democratic primary for City Council.

The list of nine candidates includes four incumbents, two School Board Members, two community leaders and a former magistrate, who, if elected would be the first transgender City Council member.

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Mayoral candidates announce intentions to Alexandria Democratic Committee

By James Cullum

Published January 3, 2024 at 3:30PM | Updated January 4, 2024 at 12:04AM

Alexandria mayoral candidates City Council Member Alyia Gaskins (on left) and Vice Mayor Amy Jackson speak at the Alexandria Democratic Committee meeting about their campaigns on Jan. 2, 2024 (staff photos by James Cullum)

(Updated at 11:45 p.m.) The race for the next mayor of Alexandria has officially begun, sort of.

Last night, Vice Mayor Amy Jackson formally announced her candidacy to the Alexandria Democratic Committee (ADC), a rite of passage in Alexandria elected politics since the city has only ever elected a Republican mayor once, in 1872. Jackson’s opponent, City Council Member Alyia Gaskins, made her own announcement to the ADC on Dec. 2, and used the opportunity last night to announce her latest endorsements.

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Alexandria podcast returns to tackle 2024’s big elections

By Vernon Miles

Published December 29, 2023 at 3:10PM

Liberally Social podcast (image via Democratic Social Club/Facebook)

A group of women Alexandria women are on a mission to ensure no candidate is just a name on a ballot in Alexandria.

The Liberally Social podcast, started back in 2021 to explore the 13 candidates running for City Council, has come together again to profile two candidates who could shape policy in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS).

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Traffic and Parking Board chair James Lewis announces City Council campaign

By Vernon Miles

Published December 18, 2023 at 10:05AM

City Council candidate James Lewis (photo via James Lewis/Facebook)

With two City Council members throwing their hats into the ring to become Alexandria’s next mayor, there will be at least two new faces on the Council next year: James Lewis wants to be one of them.

Lewis, chair of the Traffic and Parking Board, previously ran for City Council in 2021.

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Alexandria reconfiguring elections office to shorten early voting lines

By Vernon Miles

Published December 12, 2023 at 11:10AM

Voters line up to vote early in Old Town (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

The wait for early voting should be a little shorter next year.

The City of Alexandria is working to expand its Office of Voter Registration and Elections in Old Town (421 King Street) to accommodate a surge in early voting.