Two incumbents are choosing not to run again –although one of them has higher aspirations. And the field vying for three seats is crowded.
The race for Roanoke City Council includes seven candidates that will face off for three nominations on February 13, during a firehouse primary at the Berglund Center from noon until 7pm. Also on that day, Vice Mayor David Trinkle and fellow Council member Sherman Lea Sr. compete for the Democratic nomination to run for mayor, with Mayor David Bowers retiring this year.
Trinkle (who’s seat is not up for election this year) can go back to serve out his term on City Council if he does not secure the nomination at the primary, but Lea is going for broke – the church elder and retired Department of Corrections employee will be giving up his council seat if he does not win the nomination for mayor.
Both candidates have waged a low level campaign, not taking shots at each other but each claiming they have the experience, the drive and the time needed to become mayor. Besides Lea, councilman Court Rosen, embroiled in a controversy over a misdemeanor marijuana charge, is also not seeking reelection this spring.
As for City Council, incumbent Anita Price is seeking a third term, citing her background in the Roanoke public school system and a desire to keep “serving the people.”
“I feel like there is unfinished business,” said Price. Youth initiatives are a focal point. “If we don’t have youth we don’t have a city.”
Freeda Cathcart is making a second run, 27 year old Byron Hamlar is a first time candidate whose brother Michael ran for state senate last fall. Cathcart says bringing more good paying jobs to Roanoke is a priority.
“People need to stop struggling here and start connecting,” said Cathcart. Hamlar says this is “a serious run” despite his young age. He works in his family’s long-time funeral home business (Hamlar Curtis) in northwest Roanoke.
Meanwhile, Daniel Hale is a former NAACP Roanoke Chapter president (his sister Brenda is the current chair) who says his age (71) and wisdom are assets. When an issue comes up, “I can say this is what I experienced out there in the real world,” said Hale when he announced his run.
Trish Boyd-White sought the Democratic nomination for the House of Delegates previously; she owns a home health care agency. “Every day I’m talking to someone, letting them know what I want to do,” says Boyd-White. She is hearing that public safety is a concern for many, like “the heroin problem that is plaguing our city.”
Marcus Huffman is 30 and says his generation – the so-called Millenials – need to become more involved in the future of Roanoke. “It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, be a public servant,” says the youth care worker.
Wilton Kennedy is a professor at Jefferson College of Health Sciences and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He is also a physical therapist working out of Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Those seven candidates seek three Democratic nominations for the May 3 election, where they would most likely be favored based on Roanoke’s history and voting demographics.
No Republican candidates for Mayor or City Council had stepped forward as of early February; meanwhile the two independents that have announced so far (Michelle Dykstra, John Garland) get to skip the primary process in their bids for a council seat.
Grover Price, who founded The Hope Center in Northwest Roanoke (where he mentors young people), may file for an independent run as well.
After the Democrats, candidates who have run on independent tickets have also secured City Council seats over the years. Very few Republicans have been voted into office in a city that skews heavily Democrat.
The picture becomes a lot clearer after the firehouse primary this month – and after the overall March 1 filing deadline for anyone thinking about a city council run (or one for mayor) in May.
Gene Marrano
