May 1, 2025: Early-voting begins tomorrow across Virginia for party primaries
Plus: Charlottesville City Schools to move ahead with acquiring Federal Executive Institute
May I trouble you with a fact that perhaps has no relevance? May 1 is the 121st day of this year. That means we are now almost a third of the way through 2025, or 33.1 percent. Four months down, eight to go. Time does not seem to stop, which is why all of the possible stories for Charlottesville Community Engagement have not yet been written. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I suppose there’s time enough to write the following.
In today’s installment:
Early voting in Virginia begins this weekend in Virginia
Albemarle County Supervisors will hold a public hearing on May 7 to officially change the Branchlands Precinct
One woman has died following a vehicle crash in Esmont Wednesday
Virginia Humanities will receive a share of a $15 million award from the Mellon Foundation to make up for the lost of federal grants
Charlottesville City Schools has been selected by the United States government to continue with the process of acquiring the former Federal Executive Institute
First-shout: Learn 30 things in 3 hours at JMRL’s How-To Festival
Want to learn a new skill, hobby, or some other item of interest? Drop by the Central Branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. on Saturday May 3 for the 7th annual How-To Festival.
The How-To Festival is a drop-in library takeover event with short presentations and demos on a variety of topics. This fast-paced Festival attracts a large, diverse crowd of people who love learning and connecting. There are opportunities to find out about arts and crafts, food and drink, technology, repair, outdoor activities, and repairs.
Early voting begins tomorrow in Virginia
Party primaries in Virginia will be held on June 17 determining at least one statewide race as well as candidates for local offices throughout the Commonwealth. That means the early voting period opens up tomorrow.
“Virginia’s 45-day early voting period officially begins Saturday, May 3, but registrar offices that will be closed must offer early voting May 2,” reads an information release sent out Wednesday by the Virginia Department of Elections.
Early voting ends on Saturday, June 14.
Specifics about each locality are available. Visit the following links for more information about addresses to vote and hours you can do so.
Not in one of those areas? Check the Virginia Department of Elections website.
Across Virginia, there is a Democratic Primary for both Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will be the Democratic nominee.
“All 133 Virginia counties and cities will have a Democratic primary, but only 31 will have a Republican primary,” the release continues.
That’s because there are no contested races for the Republican nominees.
The Republican Party technically had a primary for Lieutenant Governor, but one of the candidates has dropped out. Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity dropped out due to health concerns, according to this account in the Virginia Mercury. Governor Glenn Youngkin has asked John Reid to drop out of the race due to the results of a candidate vulnerability check related to social media, but Reid has refused. For that story, follow the Virginia Political Newsletter.
Current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears will be the Republican candidate for governor. Incumbent Jason Miyares is seeking another term. The position of governor in Virginia is limited to one term, but not so for the other two statewide offices.
There are six candidates in the primary for Lieutenant Governor, a race in which half of the campaigns have raised over a $1 million. The links in the following paragraphs go to each campaign website to learn more about who is on the ballot.
Former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has raised $1,404,997 through March 31 according to campaign finance data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project.
State Senator Aaron Rouse (D-22) and former professional football player raised $1,185,215 in the period.
State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-15) raised $1,056,688 through March 31.
Babur Lateef, a former chair of the Chesterfield County School Board and a former members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, raised $970,265.
Former federal prosecutor Victor Salgado raised $203,998.
Union organizer Alex Bastani has raised $134,137.
There are two candidates in the Democratic primary for Attorney General.
Former Delegate and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Jones raised $1,809,276.
Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Sharon Taylor raised $1,011,708.
Local races in Albemarle County and Charlottesville (and Augusta County)
Neither Delegate Katrina Callsen (D-54) nor Delegate Amy Laufer (D-55) have opposition in the primary and will advance to the November 4 election. The question is whether anyone will emerge to challenge them. So far the answer is no.
Senator Creigh Deeds (D-11) does not face re-election until 2027. He had a primary challenger in 2023 in former Delegate Sally Hudson. The race was very narrow with Deeds getting 50.87 percent of the vote.
There is a three-way race for two seats on the Charlottesville City Council in an election which will mark the first time the city will use the rank-choice voting method Council to determine candidates. The method was used last year to pick the name of the holiday tree.
Incumbents Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade are running as a pair against newcomer Jen Fleisher. So far the Wade-Pinkston Victory Fund has raised more money than Fleisher’s campaign as I reported last month.
So far I know of two campaign forums but there may be more. I could not confirm a third in time for publication.
The Greenbrier Neighborhood Association has invited all three to participate in a virtual forum on May 14. Details on how to participate as we get closer.
The Free Enterprise Forum will have an in-person forum at the Hillsdale Conference Center on May 28.
There is a primary campaign for the Jack Jouett seat on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Three of Albemarle’s six seats on the Board of Supervisors are up for election this fall, but there’s only one party primary coming up on June 17. That’s for the Jack Jouett District where Democrats Sally Duncan and David Shreve are competing for the open seat. Supervisor Diantha McKeel announced her decision not to seek a third term in late January.
There is at least one campaign forum scheduled for this race. The Free Enterprise Forum is hosting one at on May 21 at Journey Middle School at 5:30 p.m.
There is a contested race for the Board of Supervisors across the mountain in Augusta County. Both Justin T. Dimitt and Stephen Gripps Sr. are seeking the Republican nomination for the Beverley Mountain District. They’re seeking to replace G.L. "Butch" Wells who is retiring.
People can register for the primary election through May 27, 2025. You can check your registration status on the Citizen Portal run by the Virginia Department of Elections. Same day registration starts on May 28.
Albemarle Supervisors to hold public hearing on May 7 on Branchland precinct change
While we’re on the subject of elections, many people still opt to vote in person on election day. Voting takes place in precincts whose locations are established by law.
Voters in Albemarle County’s Branchlands precinct will have to cast ballots in a new location after permission to use the Hillsdale Conference Center has been withdrawn.
“The proposed new polling place is Harvest Church of God, located at 1025 Rio Road East, and would be in effect for the June 17, 2025, primary election,” reads a portion of Albemarle’s April 2025 Community Digest.
On April 2, Supervisors passed an emergency ordinance to change the location in order be compliant with law.
“Under normal circumstances, such a change would be submitted at least 90 days prior to an election to allow the Virginia Attorney General to review the request and to allow the
Albemarle County General Registrar sufficient time to notify voters of the polling place change,” reads a draft of the ordinance.
Now the emergency ordinance has to be re-adopted and that takes a public hearing on May 7. This offers an opportunity for Albemarle to do some other house-keeping items to reflect various name changes of other polling places. (draft ordinance)
Jack Jouett Middle School is now Journey Middle School for the Jack Jouett Precinct.
Agnor-Hurt Elementary School is now Agnur Elementary School for Agnor-Hurt Precinct.
The Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center is now the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center reflecting the purchase by the City of Charlottesville. This is for the Dunlora Precinct.
Meriwether-Lewis Elementary School is now Ivy Elementary School for the Ivy Precinct.
Afternoon crash kills one in Esmont on Wednesday
One person has died following a single-vehicle crash in southern Albemarle County on April 30. Public safety responders were dispatched to the intersection of Irish Road and Chestnut Grove in Esmont around 3:21 p.m.
“Upon arrival, first responders located a vehicle that had struck a tree,” reads an information release sent out at 8:52 p.m. that evening. “The driver was transported to UVA Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.”
The passenger, 19-year-old Ava Bright of North Garden, was killed. Neither occupant of the vehicle was wearing a seat belt.
The crash remains under investigation. This is the third fatality on Albemarle County roads this year.
Second shout-out: ReLeaf
In today’s second subscriber-supported announcement: ReLeaf Cville seeks to help restore the amount of the city that is covered by trees. Here are some of their efforts since 2022.
• Planted over 300 trees particularly in neighborhoods with low tree cover, including 10th and Page and Rose Hill. Most recently in the Woolen Mills, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, the group will have planted 140 trees to help keep the Rivanna River clean. Their teenage group, the Green Team, helped with the Woolen Mills plantings
• Started a three-year Tree Preservation Program with a $189.9K grant from Virginia Department of Forestry to provide free tree care to 28 Fifeville homeowners to help preserve 48 mature trees this winter.
• Educated over 540 students about the value of trees and nature in the City and developing a Green Team of 15 teenagers every year. This group is taught about the value of trees and nature in the City. After teaching them how to approach people going door – to- door, they canvas the neighborhoods asking if we can plant trees in homeowners yards. This winter the Green Team, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, is removing invasive plants and plant new tree seedlings to refurbish forested areas.
• Environmental Education Summit. With a grant from Clean Virginia, in March the group held a summit with over 40 organizations involved in environmental education
Mellon Foundation to replace some federal funding lost by state humanities councils
The National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) was established by the United States Congress in 1965 to advance the study of the collective knowledge of the human experience.
“Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens,” reads one of the purposes of the enabling legislation signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. “It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts and the humanities, designed to make people of all backgrounds and wherever located masters of their technology and not its unthinking servants.”
The second administration of President Donald Trump has imposed its vision and interpretation of society through a series of executive orders.
“In collaboration with the Administration, NEH has cancelled awards that are at variance with agency priorities, including but not limited to those on diversity, equity, and inclusion (or DEI) and environmental justice, as well as awards that may not inspire public confidence in the use of taxpayer funds,” reads an April 24 update on NEH priorities.
That includes $1.35 million that an organization known as Virginia Humanities had expected to receive. The organization is one of 56 state humanities councils that receive funding from the NEH for activities. The entity is an independent non-profit with 2023 revenues of $7.19 million according to ProPublica.
Virginia Humanities put out a press release on April 3 announcing the cuts and the financial impact they would have.
“That 20 percent is critical because it funds programming staff, provides grants to local community organizations, and supports traditional folk artists, historians, and community scholars,” said Virginia Humanities’ executive director, Matthew Gibson.
Gibson said this would have an effect on local economies across Virginia given that many of the grants go to cultural events.
On April 30, the Mellon Foundation announced the award of $15 million to the Federation of State Humanities Councils that will be distributed across the county. That will mean $200,000 for Virginia Humanities as well as another $50,000 that they will get if they can raise the equivalent amount through donations.
In a new information release, Gibson expressed gratitude for the funding.
“If you’ve taken your family to a local museum, visited a historic site, or attended a talk at your local library in the last few years, I guarantee you’ve experienced a program supported by Virginia Humanities,” Gibson said.
In late March, Virginia Humanities awarded $211,896.76 in grants and sponsorships to 19 nonprofits across the Commonwealth. Here are some local highlights:
The Lua Project in Charlottesville received $5,000 for “support for the final stage of an oral history project collecting stories of Latino/a participants who have settled in the Shenandoah Valley, highlighting an emerging Appalachiano culture in Appalachian Virginia.”
The Monacan Nation Cultural Foundation of Amherst County received $5,000 for “support for expanded programming at the 32nd Annual Powwow, held on May 31 through June 1, 2025.”
The Staunton Music Festival was awarded $4,000 for a project called Virginia Soundscapes that is “a series of public events that will bring together eight living Virginia composers in conversation to increase public awareness of the creative work being done in Virginia today.”
The American Frontier Culture Foundation in Staunton was awarded $10,000 for a new exhibit called American Journeys “that will explore the lived experiences, cultural contributions, and interwoven histories of Indigenous, European, and African American people.”
Mary Baldwin College will receive $18,868.26 for a project called “Hidden in Plain Sight: Black Workers in Augusta County & Staunton, 1840-1940.”
Charlottesville City Schools selected to proceed with acquisition of Federal Executive Institute
Publisher’s note: My gratitude to both VPM and WINA for providing audio of a press conference
The quick and sudden end of an entity created to train the national government’s work force appears to be the City of Charlottesville’s gain. The federal government has selected Charlottesville City Schools to be the recipient of the former Federal Executive Institute pending finalization of an agreement.
“Between our preschool programming and alternative programming, there's just a lot of opportunities here for us to support our school and school community,” said Superintendent Royal Gurley Jr.
The U.S. Department of Education notified Charlottesville City Schools on April 30 that their application to acquire the Federal Executive Institute has been accepted.
“Because the property will serve an educational purpose, the division will be granted a Public Benefit Allowance discount of 100 percent, acquiring FEI through the Federal Real Property Assistance Program at no cost,” reads an information release sent out that afternoon.
Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders had learned of the opportunity to seek what is now considered surplus property.
“The reality is that we gained access to a facility that makes a huge difference in how we support our school system,” Sanders said.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on February 10 to close the agency out of a belief that the Federal Executive Institute “has enlarged and entrenched Washington, D.C.’s managerial class, a bloated system far removed from the needs of American families.”
The University of Virginia also submitted an application but were told they did not make the cut on Wednesday.
“We respect the Department's decision and celebrate the opportunities this acquisition will afford the school system and community,” reads a statement from University Communications. “UVA remains committed to collaborating with the City on educational programs.”
At a press conference Wednesday, Gurley said there had be an early effort to collaborate with UVA at the site but both learned a joint application was not possible under federal rules.
If the process is finalized, Charlottesville City Schools will use the site as a central location for pre-Kindergarten education and activities. That will free up space that already had money allocated in the capital improvement program to move forward with a central pre-K facility at Walker Upper Elementary School.
There’s still work to be done according to Sanders.
“This was a very quick process,” Sanders said. “We need to get our professionals in to really evaluate the building, take a good hard look at the plans, making sure that the things that we've been able to dream up as to what we think will work can actually work.”
Sanders said there may also need to be some back and forth with the federal government. Part of the Federal Executive Institute’s campus is historically protected.
Charlottesville City Schools are seeking to ascertain the timeline for the next steps with the Department of Education.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is putting pressure on the University of Virginia to prove that it truly has ended policies on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” For more on that, take a look at Kate Andrews’ summary on Virginia Business. If I have time I’m hoping to go over the same primary sources for a story.
Reading material:
DOT will cut funds to transportation projects with DEI, Julie Strupp, April 29, 2025
Plainclothes agents detain two men at Albemarle County Courthouse, Catie Ratliff, C-Ville Weekly, April 30, 2025
Charlottesville attorney reacts to ICE’s promise to prosecute bystanders in courthouse arrest, Kate Nuechterlein, WVIR 29News, April 30, 2025
Louisa County to issue 3.3% property tax rebate, Clare Gehlich, WRIC8, April 30, 2025
Louisa County residents getting tax rebate on real estate bills, CBS19 News, April 30, 2025
Charlottesville, Albemarle sign federal letter calling for elimination of ‘certain DEI practices’, Kate Nuechterlein, WVIR 29News, April 30, 2025
City evaluates proposal to create authority to purchase land for affordable housing, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, April 30, 2025
Structure replacement to close Nelson County road, CBS19, April 30, 2025
National ranking shows despite hike, Virginia teachers’ pay is stagnant compared to other states, Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury, May 1, 2025
VA Tech Opens New Transit Center for Regional Mobility, The Roanoke Star, May 1, 2025
Requiem for #857
Now that I’m not traveling and have a place to work for the next four days, I can get back to work. I knew I could not work yesterday because I journeyed from one place to another on the eastern seaboard.
I’m aiming to have a newsletter out tomorrow and maybe one on Sunday. Somehow I’ll also pull together two stories for C-Ville Weekly and hopefully will get a lot of the administrative work I need to get done.
As I type this, I’m communicating with a fellow small-business owner, someone who is very inspirational to me. She’s expressing a lot of frustration about how hard it is to own your business, real life stories about mistakes made and the sense it is a never-ending slog. I appreciate that very much, but I also know how much she loves her business. I wish I could help but sometimes the best thing to do is just listen and not suggest solutions. We all need to feel we can be listened to.
Is this where I say I moved to Charlottesville to work for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities? That was in 2002 and I’ve been there every since. They had funded three radio projects I worked on at WVTF Public Radio including one that won a regional Edward R. Murrow award. That made me think that maybe I could actually do this work, but it would take many years until I feel like I actually had the right to follow my dreams.
The doubt within me is powerful, though. Sometimes you need faith and support and a kind ear.
Today we end with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard from the pandemic era.
This story originally implied that Senator Creigh Deeds was a candidate this year, but all seats in the 40-member Virginia Senate are on the ballot in 2027 and not this year. I regret the error.