A second candidate for Supervisor has emerged in the White Hall District, creating the possibility of a contested race for a second election cycle in a row. Brad Rykal of Crozet has filed a statement of organization with the Virginia Department of Elections to run as an independent.
According to an August 5, 2022 article in the Crozet Gazette by Theresa Curry, Rykal is a Crozet resident who produces a podcast on local affairs.
Read moreAnn Mallek was first elected to the White Hall District on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors in 2007 when she defeated Republican David Wyant with 55.64 percent of the 5,307 votes cast that year.
Mallek ran unopposed in 2011 and 2015 but faced Republican Steve Harvey in 2019 and won 56.7 percent of the 7,728 votes cast that year.
It’s been many years since anyone sought a fifth term, but Mallek made her intentions known at a kick-off event Saturday at Crozet Library.
“With encouragement from local citizens and county leaders across the Commonwealth, I declare today to seek re-election for a last term representing the White Hall District,” Mallek said.
Read moreThere are 263 days left until the general election on November 7, and more candidates are emerging in the community.
This week, Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley of the Rivanna District filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections to run for re-election. She won election to a first term in 2019 in a race that was technically unopposed but write-in candidate Mike Johnson received nearly a third of the vote.
Johnson raised $99,336 for his write-in campaign, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s among the highest amounts ever for a Supervisor race in Albemarle County. That amount compares to $23,476 for LaPisto-Kirtley in 2019. She won the Democratic primary that year against Jerrod Smith.
This year, LaPisto-Kirtley may have an opponent in the General Election.
David Coleman Rhodes filed paperwork to run as an independent. I contacted him to confirm his candidacy and he said he didn’t have much to say yet.
“I am a lifelong resident of Albemarle, don’t like the direction this community has taken, and believe the Supervisors need a different voice,” Rhodes said in an email to me on Thursday.
Rhodes said he would not run if another candidate emerges.
So far, the only other candidate to announce for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors is Michael Pruitt, a Democrat who launched his campaign last November. Read that story here.
Interested in the election news? Sign up for Fifth District Community Engagement where you’re more likely to see these first. Both are products of Town Crier Productions.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the February 17, 2023 edition of the program. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
The first campaign finance reports for the 2023 election are in and they look back to activity from the second half of 2022. Thanks to the Virginia Public Access Project for making all of this information from the Department of Elections easy to navigate.
Read moreCooper becomes second candidate in House District 54
As 2022 comes to a close, a look ahead to the School Board races in the community beginning with news of the first person to file as a candidate in Albemarle.
Meg Bryce has filed a statement of organization to run for the at-large seat on the Albemarle School Board. Bryce is a resident of Ivy and had no comment for this story. The seat is currently held by Jonno Alcaro, who was first elected to the county-wide office in November 2015.
Read moreA small group gathered on the steps of the Albemarle County Office Building Saturday afternoon to support the first candidate to make a formal announcement to run for the Board of Supervisors.
“My name is Mike Pruitt, and I’m a Democrat running for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to represent the Scottsville District,” said Mike Pruitt.
Pruitt grew up in a small town in Anderson County, South Carolina he said was about an hour away from a city where people could find work. A former mill had closed, leaving no major industry.
“As I got older, I realized that this wasn’t a place I could stay,” Pruitt said. “Decades of disinvestment meant that there were no opportunities and growing up in the 90’s as a kid like me, I didn’t always feel the most welcome.”
Localities in Virginia have the ability to institute a new way of casting ballots whose proponents say would encourage more people to vote and run for office. But Albemarle’s new registrar told the Board of Supervisors earlier this month that more time is needed to implement ranked choice ballots.
“There are significant unresolved technical and legal issues that affect the implementation of ranked choice voting in 2023 elections,” said Lauren Eddy, Albemarle’s Director of Elections.
Read moreIt’s been a week now since Election 2022 and as of publication of this article on Information Charlottesville, there are 356 days until the next one. It’s perhaps a bit premature to look that far ahead, but annual elections are the way. This past year there was only one race across most of the Fifth District, but next year will be a lot busier for local and state seats. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect:
Read moreTomorrow the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will discuss what the Electoral Board might need if a directive was given to adopt an alternative method of selecting candidates. Earlier this month, Delegate Sally Hudson (D-57) briefed the elected officials with control over elections policy on what’s known as ranked choice voting.
“Ranked choice voting is an election reform that is now being adopted across the country, both coasts and everywhere in between,” Hudson said.
Read moreThe results are now more or less in for Election 2022 in Virginia but let’s go through some of the details.
Republican Bob Good defeated Democrat Joshua Throneburg to win a second term representing Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. With 354 precincts of 378 reporting, the Virginia Department of Elections lists Good with 57.86 percent of the vote. He carried 21 of the 24 localities in the Fifth District.
Throneburg only won in Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and Danville. Nearly 87 percent of voters in Charlottesville cast a ballot for Throneburg, compared with 66.1 percent in Albemarle, and 53.2 percent in Danville.
Read more
Information Charlottesville 