Five vie for Lexington Council seats

By CAROLINE DAVIS

While presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain trade heated jabs in their national race, the five candidates running for three open seats on the Lexington City Council remain cool and optimistic.

“We are all in this together,” said candidate David Cox, a 21-year resident of Lexington.

“If I win, that’s great; I look forward to doing what I’m going to do,” Cox said. “If I don’t, OK, that’s fine. … I’ll be contributing to the community in other ways. Either way I win.”

Candidates Cox, Marylin Alexander and Bob Lera have never served on the City Council. Cox is retired and has made two unsuccessful bids for  the Virginia General Assembly. Alexander is a longtime Lexington resident and member of the Lexington School Board. Lera is also retired and has served on the Lexington Planning Commission. 

The other two candidates, Jack Page and Ron Smith, are running for re-election. Page is a professor of civil engineering at Virginia Military Institute and is seeking his second term on the council. Smith is director of facilities services at Kendal at Lexington and is also seeking a second term.

But while only three seats are currently vacant, a fourth could be available come election night.

Mimi Elrod, a Washington and Lee employee and one of two candidates running for  mayor this year, is a current City Council member. If she is elected, her City Council seat will become open at the start of the next term in January. The council would then appoint a Lexington resident to fill the open position.  

“But let’s wait until Nov. 5 before we start to worry about things like that,” said Lera.

Many of the local candidates will continue to rely on word of mouth to drive their campaigns. In the Lexington City Council elections, voters must often take their own initiative to learn about each candidate.

The council race is nonpartisan, which means voters will not have the candidate’s party affiliation at their disposal to help them make a last-minute decision at the polls. Only the candidates’ names will appear on the ballot. 

Four years ago that ballot was quite bare.

Page ran unopposed for his position on the council in 2004. This year the incumbent is excited to compete with four other individuals.

“I’m very pleased that we have people that are lining up to be a member of [City] Council,” said Page. “I think that is a very positive and good thing … It is a little uncomfortable when you run unopposed. You go, ‘Well gee, doesn’t anyone want this job?’”

As for election night nerves? Cox said there would be none, thanks to the benefits of small-town voting. 

“The one nice thing is that in Lexington we get the results really quickly,” said Cox. “I won’t be biting my nails.”

Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.

Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian Richardson
Prof. Indira Somani

Editing supervisor:
Prof. Pamela Luecke

Reporting Supervisors:
Prof. Doug Cumming
Prof. Indira Somani

Technical supervisor: Michael Todd