What Alexandria mayoral candidate says is her top priority
The votes for the Democratic nomination for mayor of the City of Alexandria are still being counted, but Alyia Gaskins — who’s leading her Democratic rivals with nearly 60% of the vote — has declared victory.
On the verge of becoming the first Black woman to be the city mayor, Gaskins told WTOP in an interview on Wednesday that she was deeply humbled, filled with gratitude and “excited about the future of our city.”
Reflecting on her win the night before Juneteenth, she said she was thinking about her daughter and how much representation matters.
“She’ll get to see her mom and a woman who looks just like her leading and lifting up her voice to make things better for others,” Gaskins said.
Gaskins, a city council member, has 59.4% of the vote, which is ahead of Vice Mayor Amy Jackson’s 29.9% and retired real estate developer Steven Peterson’s 10.7%, as of Wednesday afternoon.
More than 18,500 people voted in the election among the 115,628 registered voters in the deep-blue city, and the winner of the primary is typically an indicator of general election results. Plus, Gaskins would be running unopposed.
The Democratic candidate will replace outgoing Mayor Justin Wilson, who said in December that he will not be seeking reelection.
Housing, failed arena deal fresh in minds of Alexandria voters
At the top of Gaskins’ to-do list is diversifying the city’s tax base.
“The reality is we have a lot of challenges and needs, whether that’s housing, public safety, addressing climate change infrastructure, but we have to find new ways to pay for it,” Gaskins said.
After Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, reached an agreement to stay in D.C. and scrapped plans to move to the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria — a proposal strongly endorsed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin — incumbent Mayor Wilson said the city missed the potential to “dramatically reshape its economy.”
Critics of the arena deal said bringing the teams to Virginia would bring increased traffic on the already congested Route 1, higher taxes and the potential for an increase in crime, among other things.
Gaskins said the city needs to find new sources of revenue. She said over the last several months that members of the community have been vocal about telling leaders what they want to see at Potomac Yard.
“Over and over and over again, I continue to hear, it’s entertainment, it’s green space, it’s housing, it’s retail and restaurants,” Gaskins said. “The work before us is really figuring out how we bring that vision to life. If it’s not arena, then what is the right catalyst that will help spur that vision into a reality?”
Can a big rethink of the Potomac Yard area happen in her tenure?
“I am expecting that it will happen as part of my leadership — I know it won’t happen overnight,” Gaskins said. “We don’t own the site, but I believe that the record I’ve had of results, but also the record I’ve had of building partnerships, both in our city and across our region, will help us move it forward.”
Gaskins was also part of the six-member city council that unanimously voted to end single-family-only zoning last November. Previously, the housing code restricted around 30% of the city’s land to be exclusively for single-family homes. YIMBYS of Northern Virginia, a group that says it advocates for affordable housing through development and denser housing, endorsed Gaskins, The Washington Post reported.