Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

Six Finalists for Vacant City Council Seat

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photo of empty Charlottesville City Council chambersThere were 20 applicants for Sena Magill’s former seat on Charlottesville City Council (this Daily Progress article gave short profile information about each) and today the City announced that it has narrowed the field to six.
There’s no election for this opening; the current City Council members will choose one of the six finalists to serve out Sena’s term on Feb 21. A public community input session will take place this Monday, Feb. 6; you can go to City Council’s meeting page if you want to sign up to get a seat at the live meeting, to get a link to watch virtually, or to register to participate or speak.
Here’s the alphabetical list of the all the applicants, with asterisks by the 6 finalists:

Kate Bennis
 *Alex Bryant
Michael Cusano Philip B. d’Oronzio
Donald J. Dunham III *Kathy Galvin
Margaret Elaine Gardiner James Louis Guidry Sr.
Sam Gulland John Edward Hall
*Lisa D. Larson-Torres Carla J. Manno
Sarah Moniz *Natalie Oschrin
Rosia Parker *Leah Puryear
John Santoski Maynard Sipe
*Kristin Szakos Christopher Charles Valtin

Action Item: Gun Violence

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photo of Eldridge Skeete Smith wearing a white knit cap and white sweatshirWe’d like to honor the memory of Eldridge “Skeete” Smith, a longtime valued member of our community who was lost to gun violence last Saturday night.
  • Juandiego Wade: “I was hurt to the core when I heard that my dear young brother, Eldridge, went home to the Lord. He was part of our fraternity’s mentoring program for almost 10 years. Big L was like a son to me. We did countless trips, mission assignments, tours together over the years. He was a phenomenal athlete and friend. I will work with a heavy heart to address gun violence in our community.”
  • Wes Bellamy: “Rest in power to my brother, body guard, and overall just great guy Eldridge Smith….Gun violence is taking our brothers out in ways that are unimaginable. We owe it to our people, our children, our families, and ourselves to think twice before we act.”
Mr. Smith was an active member of the B.U.C.K. Squad, a local grassroots organization that’s working hard to reduce this very violence in our community.
Consider contributing to a fund being set up for the benefit of Mr. Smith’s family (details not yet set), making a contribution now to the B.U.C.K. Squad itself, boosting them on social media (Facebook and Instagram), or volunteering a few hours to assist them or other gun violence prevention groups in their valuable work.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is Recommended!

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drawing of a hand placing a ballot into a brown wood dropbox through the slit at top

At our January Full Committee meeting, following Delegate Sally Hudson’s introductory overview and Q&A, we passed a resolution recommending that the City adopt RCV for all City Council primary and general elections.
The City has yet to hold any public discussions about adoption of RCV, and the reality is that our software couldn’t be ready to handle RCV until this April, too late to try to safely use RCV for the June primary. If the City decides to adopt RCV, its earliest possible use would be for the November City Council elections.

Primary Races are Starting to Take Shape

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Photo of a piece of paper with a red checkmark above a ballot box with the words Primary Elections written in big letters
Several prospective candidates (so far) have announced for the two upcoming November primary races, listed here in alphabetical order:
As a matter of policy, the Cville Dems can’t take sides in primaries, but we do pass on information about candidates’ public events as the candidates share them with us.

Comings and Goings

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At our January Full Committee meeting we welcomed Laura Shea from Clark Precinct as a member of the Full Committee and also got to meet the UVA Dems’ new President Vincent Kloes (kloes@virginia.edu); we’re looking forward to working with both of them!
Two significant changes to announce, much to our regret:
  • This month Anne Hemenway announced her resignation from the Charlottesville Electoral Board. Anne has served with great distinction for eight years, tirelessly working with her Democratic and Republican colleagues alike to keep our electoral system working efficiently and fairly for all. We owe Anne a huge vote of thanks for this dedicated service. Jim Nix, who has finished his own 3-year term, will serve out the last year of Anne’s term, after which we’ll need to nominate a new Democratic member to serve on the Board.
  • Dashad Cooper announced his resignation as our Co-Chair in order to pursue elected office in the House of Delegates. We thank Dashad for his excellent service keeping things running smoothly, including handling most of the diplomatic outreach work needed to expand our party.
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