VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — In the race for Virginia Beach mayor, four of the race's five remaining candidates are known to Virginia Beach voters for their time either currently or previously serving on the city council.
There are more than 300,000 active registered voters in Virginia Beach across the city's 108 precincts.
Former Virginia Beach Delegate Cheryl Turpin announced a withdrawal from the race several weeks ago, leaving five remaining candidates for the position. Here are the remaining candidates vying to be the head of the largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mayor Dyer is running for re-election, after first taking the helm in 2018. Before that, he served on the Virginia Beach City Council representing the Centerville District for 14 years. He was the first veteran to be elected to the mayor's position in the city's history.
He has so far fundraised $300,000.
“Been through challenging times in the history of the city since becoming mayor. I'm a steady hand on the tiller. It’s my ability to work with fellow council members, we had a 10-1 voting system with five new members and were still an effective city council," Dyer said in a sit down with 13News Now.
Dyer also cited that under his tenure as mayor, Virginia Beach was ranked by U.S. News this year as the number one place to live on the East Coast, and number eight overall for the country. While he credits that to the rest of the work from city council, he also boasts a pro-business agenda.
“We’re proud of the fact that since I've become mayor, we’re open for business. We brought in Amazon. The Dome site and Rudee loop sat vacant for 30 years, and things are moving. Companies are coming here and other companies are expanding. Acoustical Sheetmetal just built a new factory, Stihl is putting in another $60 million. We have broadband cable coming... it's going to take our economic development to the next level and keep people's children right here in the city."
Wooten is the longest-serving current city council member who is in the race. She was first sworn in in 2018 after she replaced Dyer's vacated Centerville District seat when he was first elected mayor. She became the first African American candidate to serve a second term on city council when she was re-elected in 2020.
She is second in fundraising so far, totaling $58,000.
“I'm the only person who’s volunteered in the city for some time, and I am a former police chaplain. I also volunteer on minority business council, it’s there where I learned about concerns from the city, Wooten said.
Wooten said the priorities she's most hopeful voters recognize are leading the city's disparity study, the efforts to stand up in the city's independent citizen review board, flooding, and homelessness.
"I see a lot of decisions being made that are not priorities of citizens and residents of Virginia Beach," she added. "Take the budget: the process we have every year and we’ve watched for the last six years the budget should certainly, decisions should be made by needs and priorities of a city. Oftentimes we see funding going to another area and areas of greater need do not receive the fund.”
Although Taylor has served for less than two years on the city council -- first elected in 2022 -- he believes he offers a fresh face and new perspective to lead the city.
Taylor's fundraising total so far is north of $30,000.
“Interesting race because there are so many people and we don’t have ranked choice. I don’t see a big deal with two people running against the current city mayor, I think that tells you there are two people who think they can do a better job or aren’t pleased," Taylor said, who noted he has nothing personal against Mayor Dyer.
Taylor hopes voters see value in his position as the liaison to the city's housing advisory board, open space, and military economic development committee, and initiating several initiatives in his short time on city council such as the city's aging and housing summits.
When asked about the city's biggest infrastructure projects moving forward:
"You have the [old] circuit city building, a phenomenal piece of property, an asset that a lot could be done with Rudee loop. Citizens asked for a park and our city manager transferred $60 million there, that’s not what they asked for. The Aquarium, a lagging convention center, no major hotel at this convention center," he added.
After more than a decade in city politics, former city councilman John Moss is re-entering the political ring. Moss was first elected to an at-large seat in the city in 2011 during a special general election. He maintained an at-large position on the city council for the next 11 years before ultimately losing the District 9 seat to current city councilman Joashua Shulman. In that election, they were separated by roughly 350 votes.
Moss has so far fundraised just above $30,000 for the mayoral race.
In his time on city council, he proposed several alternative city budgets that ultimately did not pass through approval, and is running on a platform of fiscal conservatism and tax relief.
"I like what the Governor [Glenn Youngkin] did when the state had surpluses multiple years in a row. What did the governor do? He gave tax rebates when he saw that the revenue picture structurally was sound for the state. What did he do? He doubled the individual and the joint income tax standard deduction and he eliminated the sales tax on food. Virginia Beach under Mayor Dyer, all three years had a big budget surplus, didn't give any tax rebates any tax relief."
Moss, similar to the other three opponents to Dyer, criticized what they believe is a catering to special interests and companies over Virginia Beach residents.
"One thing I was disappointed that the council really was indifferent to the financial situation and health of the people they represented and they were more important and more interested in representing the views who invested in their campaigns but made their campaigns possible."
This will be Kowalewitch's fourth time running for mayor, and his seventh time running for political office in the city.
Virginia Beach residents may remember Kowalewitch as the plaintiff who filed litigation against the city's move to a 10-1 voting system, claiming it was done so not in accordance with the city's charter.
He has also filed a writ of mandamus alleging Wooten and Dyer are illegitimate candidates for the mayoral race because they did not technically resign from their seats by a certain date ahead of the November election.
"It's not lawful they're not following their own charter. If you don't have a charter, you don't have a city. Council doesn't run the city, it works for the charter. If you violate this it's a problem, and that's what they've done," he said.