After climbing through Alexandria’s political spheres, it’s almost as if R. Kirk McPike is starting over.
The new 5th House District delegate to Virginia’s General Assembly resigned his seat on the Alexandria City Council just before winning a special election in February to fill the seat vacated by now-state Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-39). In order to comply with state law, the Democrat also had to quit his full-time job as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA).
Alexandria leaders cut the ribbon today (Wednesday) on RiverRenew, the city’s largest infrastructure project in history.
The project replaces Old Town’s 19th-century combined sewer system with a 12-foot-wide, two-mile-long waterfront tunnel system and sewer infrastructure to divert approximately 120 million gallons of raw sewage from flowing into the Potomac River every year.
Over 1,100 bills made it out of the latest General Assembly session, and many will take effect Wednesday (July 1).
As Democrats gained a trifecta with the election of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and control of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, legislators’ bills focused on priorities like immigration enforcement, gun control, housing and tenant protections, reproductive rights and more. Democrats also passed Virginia’s first-ever paid sick leave, paid family and medical leave, and child care assistance programs for workers.
RiverRenew, the largest infrastructure project in Alexandria’s history, is coming online on Wednesday, July 1.
John Hill, chair of AlexRenew‘s board of directors, said that replacing Old Town’s 19th century combined sewer system with a tunnel system and sewer infrastructure has been a “gargantuan” task. The wastewater project will divert approximately 120 million gallons of raw sewage from flowing into the Potomac River every year.
The Alexandria City School Board held a work session yesterday (June 9) to decide adds and deletes from the budget before final approval, but the state budget impasse leaves future funding for compensation and other items unresolved.
Several of the 38 add/delete proposals that had at least four co-sponsors received support to be added into the Alexandria City Public Schools budget. The School Board will vote on the final budget tomorrow (June 11).
The annual Wear Orange rally against gun violence will be held at a new location in Alexandria on Friday (June 5).
The Moms Demand Action Alexandria is hosting the rally at John Carlyle Square Park (300 John Carlyle Street) due to the City Hall and Market Square renovation project. Friday is also Gun Violence Prevention Day, and the annual rally is part of Wear Orange Weekend. Hundreds of similar events will be held throughout the country, including in neighboring Arlington,
A bill allowing church-based by-right housing development and several other laws passed during the 2026 Virginia General Assembly will require or allow local action, according to a presentation to Alexandria City Council last week (May 12).
Wendy Ginsberg, the city’s legislative director, provided an update on key bills the city has been tracking or will be impacted by during City Council’s May 12 meeting. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, which means localities can only use authority granted through state law.
Virginia Supreme Court judges on Monday questioned whether the state’s Democratic-led legislature complied with constitutional requirements when it sent a congressional redistricting plan to voters, in a case that carries high stakes for the balance of power in the U.S. House.
A Republican challenge to the redistricting plan, which could net Democrats four additional seats and won narrow voter approval last week, contends that the General Assembly violated procedural rules by placing the constitutional amendment before voters to authorize mid-decade redistricting. If the court agrees that lawmakers broke the rules, it could invalidate the amendment and render last week’s statewide vote meaningless.
Alexandria City School Board members are asking the public to help push for reforms to the nine-member board, including staggered elections, higher salaries and more.
The clock is ticking, School Board Members Ashley Simpson Baird and Kelly Carmichael Booz wrote in a recent blog post. The pair wrote that City Council must act this year by beginning a process to amend the City Charter — a change that would need to go to the Virginia General Assembly’s 2027 session for approval.
Numerous pieces of legislation from Alexandria lawmakers are officially set to become law or are heading back to the General Assembly with amendments after action by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
Among the approximately 1,200 bills passed out of the 2026 session, legislation on guns, housing, the national popular vote, energy and immigration enforcement all came by way of state senators and delegates representing Alexandria. Most signed bills will take effect on July 1, 2026, unless otherwise specified.
Two opposing events will be held in Alexandria this week ahead of the April 21 statewide referendum on redrawing congressional maps.
Virginia Democrats have been pursuing the mid-decade redistricting in response to similar actions in states across the country to gain party control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll shows 52% of likely Virginia voters favoring redistricting. Even if redistricting advances in Alexandria, the city would remain within the 8th Congressional District.
