Jack Berry Votes
Richmond mayoral hopeful Jack Berry (middle) and his wife, Katherine, arrive at the Retreat Doctors' Hospital in the Fan to vote on Election Day. (Photo by Mark Robinson)
Richmond mayoral hopeful Jack Berry says he’s confident the mayoral race will be settled today.
The former Venture Richmond executive and his wife, Katherine, arrived at Retreat Doctors' Hospital in the Fan around 10:30 a.m. He briefly took questions from reporters before heading inside to cast his ballot. Berry said he was optimistic that he’d be celebrating tonight.
“I think we’re going to win it today. I don’t think there’s going to be a runoff. I think today’s the day,” Berry told reporters. Later, he added, “It’s been a long time. We’ve been working on this nonstop since April, have not taken a single day off since April. I’m ready for the decision. It’s been exciting, fun, invigorating, but today, I’m ready to know the answer.”
Berry said regardless of the outcome, he hopes the city can unite around the next mayor. Asked whether he would support Morrissey if he won, Berry responded, “I don’t think there’s a chance of that happening, actually. We’re not going to let that happen. It’s just not going to happen. It cannot happen.”
Voters coming out of the 2nd District precinct seemed split between Berry and former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney. Many said they had wanted to support West End Councilman Jon Baliles, whose withdrawal from the race last week left them on the fence.
Anne Danforth, 44, was back and forth on who she would support until this morning. “I was little bit torn between [Stoney] and Jack Berry, but I felt like [Stoney] had a better perspective on representing all the constituents of the city, and so I decided to go with him.”
Tom Fabrie, 48, said Baliles dropping out left him undecided, but he ultimately settled on Berry. “Jack Berry seemed like the guy Baliles would have chosen, so I sort of followed his recommendation,” Fabrie says.
Baliles backed Stoney over the weekend. Julia Janeczek, 33, says Baliles’ endorsement factored into her decision to support Stoney.
“After [Baliles] withdrew, I sort of listened to his reasoning for that and decided to honor his candidacy and decided to go with Levar, who I also think is a really strong candidate that I’m excited to have.”
