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Frank Fannon says voters keep telling him the same thing on the campaign trail: their opinions don't matter, and whatever the city council decides is going to happen anyway.
"They want some balance on the city council," Fannon said Tuesday in a live interview with the Alexandria Brief. "They feel that there's just this whole — my opinion doesn't matter. Whatever they're going to do, they're going to do."
It's a message that has shaped how Fannon, a fourth-generation Alexandrian and former council member, is framing his independent bid for the April 21 city council special election.
Why now, why independent
Fannon served on the Alexandria City Council from 2009 to 2012, winning his seat as a Republican in a ten or eleven-candidate field. Two months ago, he said, he wasn't thinking about running again. But when Kirk McPike resigned from the council in January to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates, a door opened.
"I spent the last thirty-one years in Alexandria," Fannon said. "I was a mortgage banker. I worked for Crestar, SunTrust, Truist — I never switched jobs over all those years, but the banks kept changing."
Now retired, Fannon said he has the time and energy to return to public service. But he made a deliberate choice not to seek a party nomination.
"In this country, everything has become politicized so much," he said. "People are very tribal. And if you have a D or an R by your name, all of a sudden it sends feelings and emotions out right away." He argued that local issues have nothing to do with national party politics and said he hopes Alexandria will eventually move to nonpartisan local elections entirely.
He acknowledged the political math. In the February 10 special elections, Democratic candidates won their races with roughly 82 percent and 83 percent of the Alexandria vote. "I'm here to serve the city, not be a partisan national politician," he said.
Zoning for housing
Fannon said he opposes the zoning changes Alexandria's city council approved in November 2023 that allow four-unit apartment buildings in all single-family neighborhoods — and said he wants to find three other council members willing to reverse the vote. The changes were backed by housing advocates and YIMBYs who argued Alexandria needed more supply to address affordability.
"I haven't really met a single family homeowner who's happy about this policy," Fannon said.
He described knocking on doors near Alexandria City High School on North Early Street and speaking with a resident frustrated that the "new school" brought buses and parking congestion to his block — and that on top of that, a four-unit apartment building could now go up next door.
"We need to have smart and managed growth," he said. He supports development concentrated near metro stations, pointing to Arlington's decision fifty years ago to upzone around its metro stops as a model Alexandria failed to follow at the time. "That's smart. That's transit-oriented. And that's what we need."
Asked how he would address affordability without adding supply in single-family neighborhoods, Fannon pointed to city-backed first-time homebuyer programs. "If you can save twelve thousand dollars, you can get into homeownership," he said, noting the city's loan programs can help bring down mortgage payments.
He also noted that the average assessment on Alexandria single-family homes and townhouses now stands at $1,045,000. "That's wonderful if you bought your house a few years ago and you have a lot of equity in it," he said. "But it's also very hard for people that want to get into the housing market. And it's also very hard for fixed income homeowners."
Schools
One of Fannon's priorities, if elected, would be reexamining how Alexandria spends its school budget. The city's overall budget is approaching one billion dollars, he said, with roughly 35 percent going to schools. He said the cost to educate each Alexandria student runs about $25,000 per year, compared to a statewide average of $17,000.
"Every child deserves a great education," Fannon said. "And we need to have efficient schools." He said he would want to examine whether that gap reflects too many mid-level administrators rather than classroom investment.
He also raised a longer-term concern: Alexandria has no land left to build new schools, and the city's 2040 housing plan, if approved, will bring more residents and more students. "The next schools might be like the Ferdinand Day School," he said, suggesting the city may need to look at converting vacant office buildings as a model for future school space.
Redistricting
On the redistricting referendum, also on the April 21 ballot — a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the Virginia General Assembly to redraw congressional maps — Fannon said he opposes partisan redistricting regardless of which party benefits.
He said thirty-seven of thirty-nine Virginia state senators supported the current citizen-led redistricting process when it was created. "That's the way it should be," he said. He expressed concern that under the proposed new maps, Congressman Don Beyer's compact Northern Virginia district could stretch all the way to the Northern Neck, and that Fairfax County could end up split among five different congressional representatives.
"If you're thinking of a local level for good representation from your congressman, a congressman needs to cover a concise area," he said.
ICE and Sheriff Casey
On the question of Sheriff Sean Casey's cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a topic that has drawn dozens of public speakers to recent city council hearings — Fannon staked out a nuanced position.
"Every human being deserves respect and dignity," he said. He said he opposes ICE conducting operations in schools and neighborhoods and called the fatal shooting of a man in Minneapolis by ICE agents "a total disaster."
But he drew a distinction for people who are undocumented and have committed crimes. "Whether you're undocumented or an American, if you've committed crimes, you need to face justice," he said, citing a recent case in which a woman was killed near Alexandria by someone who had been arrested thirty times and remained free.
The case for his candidacy
Fannon closed by making his pitch directly. "I'm the candidate that has the experience, I'm the candidate that has the business background, and I'm the candidate that for the past thirty-five years has given to this community."
He noted that as one of six council members, any idea he brings forward still needs three or four colleagues to agree. "I'm not running for governor. I'm not running for president," he said. "I'm running to be one of six city council members."
Early voting begins Friday, March 6 at the Alexandria Office of Voter Registration and Elections, 132 North Royal Street. Election Day is April 21. Fannon's campaign website is frankfannin.org.
Watch or listen to our conversation
The Alexandria Brief has conversations also scheduled with Democratic nominee Sandy Marks and independent candidate Alison Virginia O'Connell. This interview is available as video, audio, and transcript at alexandriabrief.com.
