Hopewell council vets opt for sidelines; Petersburg, CH incumbents are in: Who's running in November?

“Incumbency” is the buzzword for this year’s city council races in Petersburg and Colonial Heights. In Hopewell, it is “change.”

None of the three incumbents in Hopewell is seeking a new term in November. That includes Ward 6 Councilor Brenda Pelham, a former mayor who has been on the dais since 2005.

It also includes current Vice Mayor Jasmine Gore, who has served Ward 4 since 2013. The outspoken former mayor has decided that 12 years is long enough.

That incumbent list is rounded off by Ward 5’s Janice Denton, who is stepping down after eight years. Denton was elected to council a year after she sued the city over Virginia Freedom of Information Act violations when council chose its mayor and vice mayor in closed session instead of the required open session.

In Petersburg and Colonial Heights, City Council incumbents are facing challengers. The School Board contest in Petersburg looked to be a test of wills between the incumbents and the educators' union, but when the smoke cleared, only one union-backed candidate made the cut. A second was disqualified when almost 40% of the signatures on her petitions could not be verified by local election officials.

Since Tuesday, June 18, was the deadline for hopefuls to file their required paperwork, here are the names to appear on November's ballots in the Tri-Cities:

Hopewell

In Ward 4, which covers most of western Hopewell, city firefighter Ronnie Ellis and first-time candidate Halimah Shepherd-Crawford are on the ballot. Ellis’ candidacy was one of the catalysts for the city changing its requirements for council service this year.

Under the new ordinance passed last April, city employees can run for council but must resign their employment before taking their seats. That ordinance becomes effective Jan. 1, 2025, meaning that it would be applicable to this season’s slate of candidates.

The 6-1 vote drew heated public criticism that it was politically motivated to keep popular city employees such as Ellis from running. Its proponents said the restrictions keep those employees from becoming the policy boss of the city manager.

The race in Ward 5 also features two first-timers in Susan Daye and Ed Houser. Both are regular citizen attendees at council meetings, both are frequent critics of the current council [Houser has worn a court-jester hat to some of the meetings], and both run popular community groups on Facebook.

Ward 5 covers a portion of central Hopewell.

In Ward 6, the only candidate on the ballot is former registrar Yolanda Wyche Stokes. A longtime political advocate in central Virginia, Stokes was on the job six years ago when controversy over the appearance of names on the 2018 council ballot led to the ouster of two Democrats on the city’s Electoral Board.

Ward 6 includes portions of eastern and southeastern Hopewell

The pending departures of Denton, Gore and Pelham mean that Ward 3’s Johnny Partin will be council’s senior member. Partin, currently Hopewell’s mayor, was first elected in 2018 and re-elected four years later.

School Board members in Hopewell are appointed, not elected.

Colonial Heights

In a city that operates on the at-large system, four of the seven City Council seats will be on the ballot.

Mayor Greg Kochuba and incumbent Bobby Wade are seeking re-election. They are joined on the ballot by challengers Daniel LaLonde, Craig Skalak, Tricia Palmer, Brad Slaybaugh and Len Hall Jr.

Councilors Kenny Frenier and Laura Poe are not seeking re-election.

Three of the five at-large School Board seats also are on the ballot. Incumbents running are Angie WoodyTremblay and Keith Kapinskis. They are joined on the ballot by former city school superintendent Joseph Cox and former School Board candidate Debra Walwer.

Current board member Lia Tremblay is not seeking re-election.

Petersburg

In local elections, there are two sides to a ballot. On one side are the offices up for election, and on the back are referendums.

This November, both sides of the ballot page could get heavy attention. In addition to contested elections for City Council and School Board in wards 2, 4 and 6, Petersburg voters will also be asked to determine the fate of a casino off Wagner Road and Interstate 95.

Four of the six Petersburg races will be contested.

In Ward 2, current Vice Mayor Darrin Hill will be challenged for a third term by Belinda Baugh, pastor of New Divine Worship Center who frequently advocates for families of murder victims. Ward 2 covers portions of southern Petersburg.

Ward 4 features incumbent Charlie Cuthbert against Michael Edwards, a member of the city’s Planning Commission. That ward includes the Old Towne and downtown areas, plus portions of Blandford and Walnut Hill.

Ward 6 incumbent Annette Smith-Lee is seeking re-election against Tonya Brown. Smith-Lee is seeking her third term on council.

Hill is running as a Democrat. The other candidates are independent.

On the School Board side, the only contested race appears to be a four-way run in Ward 4. Incumbent Celeste Wynn is being challenged by former city teacher and council hopeful Marcus Omar Squires, Linda Muhammad and Taccarri Graves Tucker, Tucker is running with the backing of the Petersburg Education Association, which last month issued a no-confidence vote in all seven School Board members and vowed to find candidates to oppose them.

The PEA’s candidate in Ward 6, LaToya Barnes Blizzard, failed to meet the required 125 verified signatures from ward voters on her campaign petitions. Election records indicated she turned in 149 signatures, but 59 of them were disqualified.

That means Ward 6 incumbent Bernard Lundy will be unopposed in November, along with Ward 2’s Hal Miles – barring any write-in campaigns.

Petersburg registrar Dawn Wilmoth said a “mad rush” of candidates brought in petitions on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday, which was Primary Day for congressional and Senate campaigns across the state, was also the deadline for independent candidates to file their paperwork.

Wilmoth said she and her staff pulled double duty up until 6:40 p.m. Tuesday handling the primary voting and the late filers at the same time.

“Officers were working on the [Juneteenth] holiday to facilitate checking petitions and certifying election results,” she said.

The election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5. For more information about races in your locality, contact your local voter registration office.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Here is who's on the ballot in Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell