James “Trae” Watkins, a candidate for the Lynchburg City Council, announced Friday that he is withdrawing from the November race.
In a news release, Watkins said the decision is based on his “understanding of where I can best serve right now.”
“As the campaign progressed, I had to take an honest look at the demands on my family, my responsibilities as a husband and father, and the work I am already leading in the community I love,” he said in Friday’s statement. “I concluded that continuing the campaign would divide my attention in ways I no longer believe are responsible.”
Watkins was campaigning on a slate with Veronica Bratton and council member Marty Misjuns before withdrawing, and he remains supportive of their “principled conservative leadership,” according to the news release.
“I urge voters to support them, and I intend to help their efforts,” he said.
The names now appearing on the ballot for the three open spots on the Lynchburg City Council are:
- Bratton, running as an independent
- Misjuns, running as an independent
- Stephanie Reed, running as an independent
- Larry Taylor, running as an independent
- Chris Boswell, running as an independent
- Eli Rybinni, running as an independent
- Christina Delzingaro, running as a Democrat
- Nathaniel “Nat” Marshall, running as a Democrat
- Dave Henderson, running as a Democrat
Misjuns, Reed and Taylor are the incumbents with seats up for grabs this fall.
On May 30, local Republican voters participated in a nomination process run by the Lynchburg Republican City Committee, called a firehouse primary, to name Bratton, Misjuns and Taylor as the party’s nominees for the November election. Reed, Boswell and Watkins also sought the Republican nomination but did not secure it.
On June 13, the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee upheld appeals protesting the firehouse primary and nullified the results of the nomination process. All candidates involved in the process were allowed to file as independents in the general election.
Reed, Taylor and Boswell continue to campaign as a team, as they did in the lead up to the firehouse primary.
Rybinni is running as an independent candidate but was not involved in the local Republican party’s nomination process.
Delzingaro, Marshall and Henderson are running as a slate of Democrats. The Lynchburg Democratic Committee did not need to run a primary because only those three candidates announced their plans to seek the Democratic nomination.
