Sandy Marks wants to keep Alexandria City Council moving forward

Sandy Marks says the most important part of the question isn't why she's running — it's why she's running now.

"This is less for me about, I'd like to be on city council," Marks said Tuesday in a live interview with the Alexandria Brief. "And more, I see my city in a position where we are going to lack something that we voted for, that we wanted, and that we weren't prepared to lose at the local level."

The Democratic nominee for the April 21 Alexandria City Council special election is framing her candidacy as a continuation of the work left behind by Kirk McPike, who resigned from the council in January to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Why now

Marks served as chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee for four years before stepping down to run. She said McPike's departure left a specific portfolio — climate, reproductive justice, labor, and legislative work — that she felt compelled to champion.

"I thought, man, I need to go out and recruit somebody to fill this specific role," she said. "And then I realized, I'm not the Democratic Party chair anymore. I can do that."

She acknowledged the unusual dynamic of transitioning from party leader to candidate — including the challenge of competing against people she had spent years encouraging to run. "I didn't want to challenge people who I have encouraged to get in the game in the past," she said. "I care about every single one of the people who ran, and I care about their path forward."

On the primary and party unity

Marks won the February 21 firehouse primary with 39.6 percent of the vote in a five-candidate field. Asked what she learned from the experience, she described a return to cohesion among the party's competing camps.

"The general sense that I'm getting is one of exhale, one of relief that we are all back together again," she said. She added that all five Democratic candidates share a baseline of values, and that the outreach she's receiving from former rivals' supporters has been about unity rather than division.

On the question of why the city council needs another Democrat rather than an independent voice, Marks pushed back on the premise. "Right now, the Democratic Party is such that it represents everyone except MAGA Republicans," she said, arguing that the council's Democratic majority is not a monolith but reflects a range of views. "There are so many different kinds of Democrats."

She was direct about her opposition to adding a Republican perspective to council — a remark that appeared directed at Fannon, a former Republican now running as an independent. "Do I think that we need to add a Republican voice to council? Only if we want to stop progress," she said. "Only if we want to spend time on the docket discussing things that Alexandria has rejected time and time again."

On decision-making and her first days

Asked how she would navigate contentious issues — like the seven-hour bike lane and parking hearing Belmore described — Marks was direct about her approach: "First of all, and I can't stress this enough, I love a meeting."

She described herself as a consensus builder who is more interested in finding shared goals across competing perspectives than in staking out rigid positions. "I prioritize collaboration. I prioritize creativity," she said. She added that she has not changed her positions on any major issue during the campaign, but has deepened her understanding of specific neighborhoods and individual experiences.

On what a successful first 60 to 90 days would look like, Marks described three priorities: filling the specific legislative lanes McPike left behind, building relationships with the school board and the regional Northern Virginia delegation, and developing a constituent services practice. She was candid that the work of the city council is incremental rather than transformative.

"If there were an easy, big swing to take, they would have done it," she said of the current council. "So yes, this work is incremental and we have to get everybody on board to do it."

She also flagged what she sees as an ongoing funding inequity: Alexandria receives roughly 5.8 percent of its budget from state government, she said — not enough to cover state-mandated programs — in part because the funding formulas penalize cities with high home values. "The story of our home values isn't necessarily the story of our needs and disparities in Alexandria," she said.

ICE and Sheriff Casey

The issue Marks hears most about at the doors, she said, is ICE.

"They want to talk about ICE and they want to know who has got their back," she said.

She was careful to distinguish between the impulse toward loud, public action and the kind of deliberate, behind-the-scenes work she believes is most protective of vulnerable residents. "There is a real possibility when we do those things to shine a spotlight and attract attention to the most vulnerable people we're actually trying to protect," she said.

She said she is interested in bold, swift action if ICE were to come to Alexandria as it did to Minneapolis, but argued that some of the most important protective work happens "out of the line of sight of the federal government" and out of public view. "There is a place for that, and there is also a place for important work that takes place out of the line of sight," she said.

She challenged voters to consider who they want in the room making those decisions. "Can they be trusted to do what's necessary to take protective action on behalf of vulnerable people in our city?" she said. "My contention is, yes, I can be trusted to do that."

Redistricting

On the redistricting referendum, also on the April 21 ballot, Marks was unequivocal: "It is crucial that we pass this."

She described the referendum as a finite measure — lasting through the 2030 census — designed to counteract what she called partisan redistricting in states like Texas that she said would disenfranchise voters nationally. "This is redistricting for a finite amount of time in an emergency situation to counteract an extremist takeover of Congress," she said.

She added that anyone opposed to the referendum "needs to be asked some serious questions about where their politics and their values lie."

The case for her candidacy

Marks closed by making her case on values over policy specifics. "I don't think that the majority of Alexandrians want to be zoning experts," she said. "What they want is someone whose ethos aligns with theirs, whose values align with theirs, who can represent them really well on the dais and behind closed doors."

She described herself as a parent ten years into the Alexandria City Public Schools system, with five more to go, someone who has knocked every precinct in the city and has a spreadsheet full of issues and contacts to follow up on. "When that door closes behind you, I want to know you're in there and that you're bringing me with you," she said.

Early voting begins Friday, March 6, at the Alexandria Office of Voter Registration and Elections, 132 North Royal Street. Election Day is April 21. Marks's campaign website is sandyforthecity.com.