Photo by David Streever
While voters across Virginia elected or reelected state representatives in November, a key seat on Richmond City Council also changed hands as South Side resident Stephanie Lynch, 32, won a special election in the city’s 5th District.
Lynch’s victory was no small feat, garnering 27% of the vote in a field of seven candidates (an eighth candidate dropped out but was still listed on the ballot). During her campaign, Lynch championed increasing funding for Richmond Public Schools, with a focus on city high schools, and solving traffic safety concerns.
“I think at the end of the day, it’s about the ability to connect with people and to listen, and for people to feel heard,” she says.
Lynch is also likely to be a pivotal voice on City Council during deliberations on the $1.5 billion Navy Hill redevelopment proposal. She says she counts herself as a definite “no” vote on the plan in its current form, including a plan to direct growth in real estate tax revenue from an 80-block district toward building a new arena.
“The process was, from the get-go, not transparent,” she says, “and folks feel like when this deal finally arrived at their doorstep, it was being shoved down their throats.”
Filling a seat left vacant by Parker Agelasto, who announced he’d step down after it was revealed that he no longer resides in the 5th District, Lynch will serve a one-year term. She says she “absolutely” plans to run for a four-year term during the next election cycle.
