With all of the votes in this year’s Lynchburg City Council elections now counted, the winners remain unchanged and Republicans are set to expand their majority on the council.
In the early morning hours the Wednesday after Election Day, unofficial election results showed three Republicans and a Democrat poised to win the four seats up for grabs.
But post-election and provisional ballot votes had yet to be counted, and in the city’s Ward IV, incumbent Republican Chris Faraldi led his Democratic challenger, April Watson, by just 167 votes out of more than 9,000 between them — a difference of less than 2%.
Ward IV includes the Linkhorne, Perrymont and Sandusky neighborhoods, as well as the University of Lynchburg.
With all votes now in as of Friday evening, Faraldi not only has won a second term on the council but he widened his margin slightly: He received 4,647 votes compared to Watson’s 4,462, a difference of 185, or 2%.
On the day after Election Day, despite the relatively slim margin and outstanding votes, Faraldi claimed victory and Watson conceded.
“Victory! Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Faraldi, who also serves as Lynchburg’s vice mayor, posted on Facebook early Nov. 6.
“Don’t ever believe that your vote doesn’t count,” Watson posted on the same day, telling her supporters that she “will still be working for you, even if it’s not from the dais.”
Write-ins in Ward IV accounted for 750 votes, or 7.6%. The ward had two candidates who ran write-in campaigns: Peter Alexander, who sued Faraldi after losing the GOP primary in June, and Michelle Harvey.
The ballots that were not available on Election Day or the day after were absentee ballots received by the deadline but not yet processed and provisional ballots such as those from people who registered to vote on Election Day.
In close races, the later-counted ballots can make a difference. In this year’s Roanoke mayor’s race, Republican David Bowers held a 19-vote lead as Election Day drew to a close, but once all votes were in, Democrat Joe Cobb had pulled ahead.
The Lynchburg City Council has seven members, and this year voters chose four of them, one for each of the city’s four wards. The other three members are elected by the city at large and will be up for reelection in 2026.
The other winners of this year’s election were:
- Ward I: Republican Jacqueline Timmer won with 4,619 votes, or 44.1%. Democrat Randy Smith received 4,027, or 38.4%, while independent Cameron Craddock Howe got 1,756, or 16.7%. The three were vying for the seat held by two-term independent MaryJane Dolan, who did not seek reelection.
- Ward II: Incumbent Democrat Sterling Wilder won with 4,051 votes, or 64.3%. Republican Rodney Hubbard received 1,581, or 25.1%. Independent Tori Howard got 599, or 9.5%.
- Ward III: Republican Curt Diemer won with 5,369, or 62.9%. Democrat James Coleman received 3,093, or 36.2%. They competed for the seat held by Jeff Helgeson, a Republican who did not seek reelection after serving 20 years on the council.
Ballots cast citywide totaled 37,344 out of 61,059 registered voters, a turnout of 61%.
This election’s results mean that Republicans on the Lynchburg City Council have expanded their majority from 5-2 to 6-1.
Nonetheless, the local GOP remains divided into two factions, and it remains to be seen how the six Republicans will interact once the new council is seated.
On the day after Election Day, at-large Republican councilman Marty Misjuns posted on Facebook that Faraldi “is so unpopular he didn’t even get 50% of the vote” and said that in January, the council “will have four REAL conservatives” — a remark that, based on his history of clashes with Mayor Stephanie Reed and Faraldi, appeared to refer to him, Diemer, Timmer and fellow at-large councilman Larry Taylor.
