Voters do not yet know who one member of the Vienna Town Council will be, with three candidates – Shelley Mountjoy, Sandra Allen and Beth Eachus – still in contention for the sixth seat.
Here’s what is for certain: Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert coasted to victory unopposed on Nov. 7, voters granted new terms to three incumbent Council members and also selected two newcomers.
According to the most recent figures reported by the Virginia Department of Elections the morning of Nov. 14 (when the GazetteLeader was headed to press), Colbert had won 4,665 votes for mayor, with write-ins totaling 258.
According to the same report, incumbent Howard Springsteen led Town Council contenders with 3,373 votes, followed by challenger Jessica Ramakis (3,297), incumbent Charles Anderson (3,271), incumbent Ray Brill Jr. (2,824), challenger Roy Baldwin (2,776), challenger Mountjoy (1,928) and challenger Allen (1,927).
There also were 2,005 write-in votes recorded but not yet reported as of Nov. 14 at 9 a.m., according to Virginia Department of Elections data. Eachus, who chairs the town’s Transportation Safety Commission, ran a write-in campaign, and it remains uncertain uncertain how many of those votes belong to her – and whether they will affect the race.
The Town Council elections were held in November because the General Assembly in 2021 passed a law moving all municipal elections from May to November to coincide with the general election.
Legislators backing the bill said the intention was to encourage more voter participation and reduce costs, but town officials opposed the switch, citing the desire not to have the nonpartisan election get caught up with partisan races on the ballot.
The Town Council canceled the 2022 election and extended some members’ terms so as to begin a new regimen starting this November. Instead of the past practice of having three Council seats up for grabs each May, with mayoral elections held concurrently in even-numbered years, the Council voted to have all six Council seats, plus the mayor’s, on the ballot during November elections in odd-numbered years.
The new Council will take office in January. The Council was bound to see at least three new faces next year because incumbents Nisha Patel, Ed Somers and Steve Potter declined to seek re-election.