Information Charlottesville

So far, there are no candidates who have filed to run for Charlottesville City Council this year, but two former members are now in the race for House District 54. 

Dave Norris served on Council from July 2006 until the end of 2013 and has filed a statement of organization with the Virginia Department of Elections. 

“I am pleased to have served the Charlottesville-Albemarle community in a variety of ways over the past 30 years, and I look forward to building upon my track record of proven progressive leadership if elected to the Virginia General Assembly,” Norris wrote on his campaign website. 

As of Wednesday morning, no one had filed to run for any of the three Council seats up for election this year. There’s a lot more interest in replacing Sally Hudson as the Delegate representing Charlottesville in the House of Delegates with two candidates previously announced.

This week, former Charlottesville Mayor David E. Brown filed for the seat. Brown served on Council from July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2011 and spent the last several years as director of the Virginia Department of Health Professions before Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed a replacement last November. Before that, Brown spent two years as an assistant to former Delegate David Toscano, according to his LinkedIn page. 

Albemarle County School Board member Katrina Callsen has filed with the Virginia Department of Elections to be a candidate to run in the House of Delegates district being vacated by Delegate Sally Hudson. Callsen is seeking the Democratic nomination for the open seat in District 54.

Callsen was elected to represent the Rio District on the School Board in 2017 in a competitive race in which she secured about two-thirds of the vote. She ran unopposed in the 2021 election. She works for the city of Charlottesville as a deputy city attorney and is the School Board’s current vice chair.

Hudson is challenging Senator Creigh Deeds in the Democratic primary for Senate District 11. Two Democrats are seeking the nomination for House District 55 where the incumbent is Republican Rob Bell. They are emergency room nurse Kellen Squire and former Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer.

Creigh Deeds has never faced a primary challenger in the more than 20 years he’s been in the Virginia Senate. Now he is running in the new District 11 but he will have to get more votes than Delegate Sally Hudson in that contest. She is forgoing her current seat to make the challenge.

The two appeared last week at a legislative forum held last week by the University of Virginia. This event was not a debate but offered a glimpse into their different approaches to being a legislator. 

Say hello to election season. 

Delegate Sally Hudson has announced on a campaign fundraising website that she will seek the nomination for the new Senate District that covers Albemarle, Amherst, Charlottesville, and Nelson. 

“The best way to safeguard our future is to send innovative, energetic representatives to Richmond who remind voters every day why their state reps matter,” Hudson writes on the site.