Election 2015: Alexandria Elects a New Mayor

PHOTO: Allison Silberberg, at Los Tios in Del Ray Tuesday night, declares victory in Alexaxandria mayor’s race.

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An unusual twist on Election Day in Alexandria saw newcomer, Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg, win the Democratic primary in June in a three-way race between four-term incumbent Mayor Bill Euille and former Mayor Kerry Donley.

On Tuesday night, Silberberg won with a commanding lead.

The votes are in with 28 of 28 precincts reporting in unofficial results:

• Allison Silberberg: 16,554 or 63.05 percent
• Bill Euille (write-in votes): 9,702 or 36.95 percent

Silberberg attracted voters who liked her “go slow” approach to growth in the City, while others supported Euille who said he didn’t want to go quietly into the night after years of service.

In the money race for mayor, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, Euille raised about $211,206, with $31,877 left by Oct. 22; from Oct. 28-30, Euille raised another $14,000.

Silberberg raised $148,978, with $34,424 left by Oct. 22; Silberberg’s last-minute contributions, from Oct. 26-29, show she received $2,800.

Alexandria has seen an increase in absentee voting in this election, with 1,881 people casting absentee votes in person and 1,000 casting absentee votes by mail, Alexandria Registrar Anna Leider said Monday morning. She noted that in 2011, about 1,400 absentee votes were cast, but said that the practice is generally becoming more popular.

Leider said she expected turnout in the Alexandria election to be between 10 to 30 percent, depending on the precinct. Turnout was about 26 percent Tuesday.

On Election Night, voters following the Alexandria mayor’s race, looking at results online, will not see votes for Euille’s name; instead they will see the number of write-in votes cast for Mayor.

Election officials will begin an open canvass (meaning anyone can watch the proceedings) of the election results Wednesday morning and will likely take two days before they report their findings, Leider said.

A canvass of the votes should be completed by Thursday evening or Friday morning. “We’ve never done this before,” Leider noted. The Electoral Board does its canvass after every election. They’ve never done a canvass with an active write-in campaign.