Manassas Mayor's Re-Election Decision Opens Doors To New Faces

MANASSAS, VA — Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish's decision not to run for a fourth term is expected to turn the November election into a competitive affair. Parrish, who has served as mayor since 2009, announced last week he would not seek re-election this November.

Parrish, a lifelong resident of the City of Manassas, was appointed to the Manassas City Council in 1993. The Republican was elected to the council in 1996, 2000 and 2004 and was elected by the council as vice mayor in 1999. Parrish did not face any Democratic challengers in his re-election bids as mayor.

But in December, first-term Manassas City Council Member Michelle Davis-Younger, a Democrat, announced plans to run for mayor. Davis-Younger became the first African American woman to sit on the city council after winning election in 2018.

The political make-up of the city council and the city at large has shifted significantly over the past dozen years. In 2018, the year Davis-Younger won election, Republicans lost control of the city council for the first time in its history.

Another council member, Theresa Coates Ellis, a Republican, also has announced she is running to replace Parrish as mayor.

On her campaign website, Coates Ellis has a three-step plan to "attract new entrepreneurs to open their dream businesses, and to nurture the established ones or individuals that call Manassas home." One step is to "enrich" by putting a together a "strong strategic plan" for the city and find investors and funding for business. Another step is to "grow" by finding "the right place with easy guidelines to be compliant." And the third step is to "flourish" through innovation and investing in expansion.

Davis-Younger, on her campaign website, calls for returning the power in city hall "back to the citizens of Manassas City."

"As a City we have big challenges ahead but also immense opportunity to position Manassas to be the magnet that attracts new business investment, grows our tax base while not increasing taxes," Davis-Younger said. "We also must help our schools, in a community effort, to transform into world class environments that continue to deliver the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs."

Davis-Younger told InsideNoVa that she thinks it is unlikely anyone else will file as a candidate for mayor with the filing deadline coming up at the end of March. If either of the two currently announced candidates wins the mayor's race, she will be the first female mayor of Manassas, InsideNoVa noted.

The Democrat also told InsideNoVa that she and Coates Ellis have gotten to know each other well over the last year and have a good relationship on the city council.