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Two independent candidates have submitted petition pages to the Alexandria Office of Voter Registration and Elections for the April 21 City Council special election, General Registrar Angie Maniglia Turner confirmed Thursday evening. No candidates have been certified yet. The filing deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, February 27.
Frank Fannon, who served on city council from 2009 to 2012 as a Republican, submitted petition pages to the registrar. Fannon announced his independent candidacy earlier this month.
The second filer is a new name in the race: Alison Virginia O'Connell, an Alexandria resident and activist who has spoken repeatedly at city council public hearings calling for the city to divest from defense contractors she says are complicit in human rights abuses, according to past Alexandria Brief coverage. O'Connell has served on the city's Commission on Persons with Disabilities and the Alexandria Housing Affordability Advisory Committee, according to her campaign website. Her platform centers on ethical investment, abolishing ICE, affordable housing, and what she describes as "Trump-proofing Alexandria."
The Alexandria Brief reached out to O'Connell for comment on Thursday. This story will be updated if she responds.
Democratic nominee Sandy Marks, who won the Alexandria Democratic firehouse primary February 21 with 1,573 votes, has not yet filed the required candidate paperwork with the registrar's office as of Thursday evening, according to Turner. Candidates must personally sign and file a Certificate of Candidate Qualification and a Statement of Economic Interests — a 25-page form requiring disclosure of personal debts, securities holdings, business interests, rental property, real estate transactions, and income sources. The Alexandria Brief has reached out to Marks for confirmation that she intends to file before Friday's deadline.
Those same financial disclosure requirements were cited earlier Thursday by Gerry Chandler, the Alexandria Republican City Committee's nominee, as the reason for his withdrawal from the race. The ARCC subsequently announced it would not name a replacement nominee, leaving the April 21 ballot without a major-party Republican candidate.
The Alexandria Brief will report the certified candidate list once the filing deadline passes Friday at 5 p.m.
This story will be updated. For more on Chandler's withdrawal, read our earlier report here.
