Two longtime City Council members and three newcomers are likely to be elected to the Chesapeake City Council in a race with most of its at-large seats up for grabs.
As of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, all but one of the 67 total precincts reported results. Vice Mayor de Triquet had received the most votes — 40,876 — among the 13 candidates. Coming in second behind de Triquet was councilwoman Ella Ward, who recorded 38,320 votes.
de Triquet, 73, was first elected to the City Council in 1994. Ward, 76, was first elected in 2006.
de Triquet could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Reached by phone Tuesday night, Ward said she was “ecstatic” and that she was ready to keep working for all citizens. She added that completing Chesapeake’s Historic Village project at Dismal Swamp and restoring the historic African American Cornland School are top priorities.
Newcomers likely to join the City Council include Daniel Whitaker, C. Jeff Bunn and Amanda Newins.
A return to curbside recycling was a priority for many candidates in Chesapeake. The city ended its contract with TFC Recycling earlier this year as a cost-saving measure to fund other priorities, such as pay raises for public safety workers, in the 2022-23 budget. Before then, Chesapeake was the only city in Hampton Roads that didn’t charge for recycling services.
Before the budget was adopted, de Triquet attempted to save curbside recycling and lower the real estate tax rate by 4.5 cents, but was unsuccessful.
A pediatrician, de Triquet previously told The Virginian-Pilot that those measures remain priorities for him, in addition to balancing residential and commercial growth.
Ward, a former Portsmouth Public Schools administrator and Chesapeake School Board member, also supports returning to curbside recycling and lowering taxes.
Whitaker, 46, owns and operates an electrical contracting company in Chesapeake. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Bunn, 58, is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway. He also spent almost 40 years with the city’s economic development and parks and recreation departments.
“I’m so excited to serve the city that I grew up in,” Bunn told The Pilot Tuesday.
He added that the city needs to “work really hard” to bring back curbside recycling.
Newins, who could not be reached Tuesday, previously told The Pilot that she wants to continue increasing pay for law enforcement officers and make the process of bringing a business to Chesapeake easier, such as reducing license fees and taxes.
In September, a lawsuit was filed against Newins by her great aunt, stoking divisions within the local Republican party, which endorsed all of the likely winners except Ward. The lawsuit alleges Newins mistreated her elderly aunt and late husband, stole tens of thousands of dollars and improperly obtained the deed to their house. Newins, an attorney, has denied all wrongdoing.
Despite raising the most in the race, councilwoman Susan Vitale appears to have lost her seat. She raised more than $72,000 since the start of the year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The former Naval intelligence officer, who currently works as a managing director at Microsoft Corporation, is on track to finish 10th.
This year’s election also marked the first council race on a November ballot. Previously, municipal elections were held in May.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
