(From left) Richmond mayoral candidates Andreas Addison, Dr. Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett and Harrison Roday answer questions at Diversity Richmond’s “I Vote With Pride” forum on Sept. 5, 2024. (Photo by Mark Newton)
With exactly two months to go until the polls close, Richmond’s five mayoral hopefuls appeared to be in hearty spirits as they pitched their visions of leadership to those gathered at Diversity Richmond.
The candidates — Andreas Addison, Dr. Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett and Harrison Roday — faced questions from state Senate candidate Alexsis Rodgers and Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Jeff Schapiro in a Sept. 5 forum dubbed “I Vote With Pride.” The discussion, with some topics submitted by audience members, touched on conversion therapy bans, sex education and religious beliefs regarding LGBTQ+ rights but often explored more general subjects of city governance.
Here are five key moments from the event.
1. A new Richmond Coliseum is unlikely. Three of the five candidates outright rejected the idea of building a new sports arena in the city. Avula noted that Henrico County’s GreenCity arena “creates a huge opportunity” for Richmond to invest in other priorities, which he, Mosby and Roday enumerated. Addison, however, kept the door open, saying that an arena “brings people here to spend money. ... While I might not say yes to a stadium today, I will say it would be great to have a nice new soccer stadium.” Or, as Neblett put it, “We can’t continue to miss opportunity.”
2. Candidates are focused on food deserts. Each candidate recognized the need to improve food access and security, particularly in southern parts of the city. Mosby pointed to her work in bringing The Market at 25th to Church Hill, while Avula noted that the issue was a major topic when he served as public health director. Roday received applause, hard to come by at the forum, for reasoning that if Richmond can subsidize baseball stadiums, it can subsidize efforts to eliminate food deserts.
3. Avula and Roday’s funding was under fire. The two most well-funded candidates faced tough questions about their campaign war chests. Asked about his sizeable out-of-state donations, Roday said many of them come from “people that I’ve known through the work I’ve done in the nonprofit community and in the professional part of my life, as well.” Avula was asked about donations with links to immigrant detention, including a $5,000 gift from Abyon LLC, operator of the Farmville Detention Center, that he eventually returned. When pressed about a $25,000 donation from Ken Newsome, executive chairman of Markel Food Group and an original investor in the Farmville center, Avula said it came “from an individual that I had a long relationship with. I think it’s different case, right, taking money from somebody who I knew, who has his own story ... but has really compelling reasons to step away from maybe some of the beliefs that they had previously.”
4. Things got personal. Attendees learned the personal story of each candidate (under a sometimes tight time limit), which candidates own a firearm (Mosby and Neblett), the fellow candidate each would hire as chief administrative officer (Roday got two votes) and the instrument Addison plays in The Chapel RVA worship band (guitar).
5. Mosby questioned Neblett’s qualifications. “This is a city of 230,000 people,” the former City Council president said to Neblett, a community organizer and entrepreneur, when she was offered a chance to pose a question to another candidate. “My question is, do you really feel that you are qualified to be the city’s next mayor?” His response: “Absolutely, I do,” later adding, “I’m not here by chance.”
In addition to the mayor, Richmonders will also be picking candidates for the city’s council and school board, the U.S. House and Senate, and president. In-person early voting begins Sept. 20, and Election Day is Nov. 5. Check your registration status and learn more at elections.virginia.gov.
