Alyia Gaskins (D) is projected to win the Democratic primary for Alexandria mayor, according to unofficial results, defeating two opponents in a race that spotlighted vastly different ideas about what it means to engage with residents of this Northern Virginia city.
Gaskins, who is on track to be the first Black woman in the role, laid out a vision for leaning into change and creating an “Alexandria that works for all of us” following a string of contentious citywide debates about urban growth — including a failed plan for a new sports arena and a vote to eliminate single-family-only zoning.
Currently a first-term city council member, Gaskins pledged to balance listening and leading in this community of 160,000 — an approach that drew the endorsem*nts of Mayor Justin M. Wilson (D), who is not running for reelection, as well as most of her colleagues on the council.
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Gaskins beat out Vice Mayor Amy B. Jackson (D) and Democrat Steven Peterson, a retired real estate developer. Gaskins is virtually guaranteed to win in November and assume the blue city’s top political post next year. No other candidates had filed to run for mayor in the general election by the Tuesday evening deadline, the city’s elections office said.
“I am committed to, and have been, showing up to create a city that works for all of us,” Gaskins said in an interview. “I’m excited to get things done. Not only the things I talked about wanting to work on, from public safety, to education, to infrastructure, but also all the ideas and different opportunities I’ve heard come up.”
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Gaskins, 35, who works as a senior program officer at an anti-homelessness foundation, emphasized her professional background in public health and urban planning during her campaign, pitching herself as the candidate best prepared to do the difficult work of legislating.
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But it was a phone call that persuaded Bryce Myers, 40, to cast his ballot for her. Gaskins’s willingness to reach out and communicate her agenda made Myers feel confident she could win over a majority of voters, he said.
“I was kind of undecided, and then Gaskins reached out to me, and it meant a lot to know that I was being talked to as a voter,” Myers said. “Voters really want to be talked to and engaged with.”
Others were hoping to see another outcome. Voter Carole Sebenick, 61, cast a ballot for Jackson, a self-declared “hometown girl.” Jackson campaigned on her tenure in city government and even deeper roots in Alexandria, saying she had developed the necessary relationships to lead the city effectively. Sebenick agreed.
“She has a lot of experience in the city from a lot of different perspectives,” Sebenick said. “She’s been involved with the school system as well as in local government.”
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But voter James Whitmire, 71, was looking for a fresh face after living in Old Town for 20 years. He said he voted for Peterson because “he seems like an outsider.”
Also on the ballot Tuesday were six spots on the Democratic slate for city council, a crowded race that featured 11 candidates duking it out over hot-button city issues as well as quality-of-life matters such as schools, parks and roads. An unofficial tally of results with provisional ballots still outstanding late Tuesday showed candidates John Taylor Chapman, Sarah Bagley, R. Kirk McPike, Abdel S. Elnoubi, Canek Aguirre and Jacinta Greene ahead.
Aguirre, Bagley, Chapman and McPike are incumbents seeking to keep their jobs on the council. Elnoubi and Greene are currently members of the city’s school board.
The party’s nominees will face at least three other candidates — Republican Celianna Gunderson and independents Mason Butler and Roy Byrd — though all are expected to face long, if not impossible, odds in November. Democrats have held every seat on the Alexandria City Council since 2012.
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Voters in nearby Arlington County also headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the five-way primary to succeed Chair Libby Garvey (D), who is retiring, for an open seat on the county board. Because the race is being decided via ranked-choice voting, preliminary results are not expected until after the deadline to receive mail-in ballots Friday.
In the Alexandria mayor’s race, after frustrations that Wilson tended to dismiss his critics and keep the public out of the loop on controversial plans, some voters pointed to the candidates’ stances on the unpopular Potomac Yard arena proposal as a test of how they might approach those complaints in office.
Peterson opposed it from the start, while Gaskins remained open to the plan as it got stymied in the state legislature and only expressed her opposition hours before the city pulled out of the deal. Jackson came out against the project weeks before Gaskins did but later claimed to have “led the effort to prevent the new arena” — even though she attended an unveiling ceremony for the plan.
The same dynamic played out over the city’s “Zoning for Housing” policy: Peterson said he would have rejected it, Gaskins voted in its favor and Jackson did the same — but only after attempting to remove the single-family-only zoning repeal from a broader package of changes.
Emma Uber contributed to this report.
