"Mayor David Brown, Holly Edwards and Satyendra Huja were nominated for Charlottesville City Council at the Democratic Party’s nominating convention June 2. The convention, held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center, gathered 431 registered Democrats to vote for the candidates. Only one ballot was needed to select the three nominees. Huja, a 31-year city planning veteran, received the most votes, 304. Edwards and Brown finished second and third with 279 and 261 votes respectively.

City Council just might have its new faces, if the Democratic nominees can hold off a challenge from independent Peter Kleeman. Satyendra Huja received the most votes from the 431 Democrats who attended the nominating convention June 2, followed by Holly Edwards and David Brown, the current mayor.

“When you control a city council, as we [Democrats] currently do, I think there’s a special responsibility,” said party co-chair Russ Linden. “If you’re a city council member you can’t only think about the party that nominated you if all the members are of the same party. You’ve got to think about the entire community. We’re got to represent the people who didn’t vote for us. We’ve got to represent the people who’ve got turned off because they don’t think their vote counts.”

City Council, currently composed of five Democrats, could retain the same makeup after the fall election. As the Republican Party has yet to field a candidate and independents often have difficulty winning, Linden said these individuals will likely fill the three vacancies on City Council, which will be officially determined at the November 6 election. Independent Peter Kleeman is the only known candidate working to get signatures to mount a challenge.

The convention gathered a number of former city politicians to the aide of the nominees. Former Mayor Maurice Cox introduced Huja as ”one of the most effective change agents this community has ever seen,” referencing his work in the planning of the Downtown Mall and the 20-mile Rivanna Trial that encircles the city. Another former mayor, Bitsy Waters, endorsed Brown, the only incumbent nominee, to another four years in office.

“Dave Brown is the first person in 20 years to be elected mayor by his colleagues for two consecutive terms,” said Waters. “That tells you something. It tells you he brought them the leadership they thought they needed and the type of local government they thought we deserved.”

Edwards, a nurse and program coordinator for the Public Housing Association of Residents, spoke of the many issues facing the city. “My traveling has made me realize that this city is a web of layers of issues, unanswered questions and, more importantly, questions that haven’t even been asked yet,” said Edwards. “It is a tangled web of housing needs that’s tangled with transportation that’s intertwined in the web of under-employment and inadequate health care. This intricate pattern traps people in low-paying jobs and in mortgages that can no longer be afforded. It’s a web of back rent and back taxes.”

Linda Seaman, former city School Board chair, and Jennifer McKeever, a local attorney, finished fourth and fifth, failing to receive enough votes to win the party’s nomination. McKeever lost her bid to become a nominee for City Council despite the public endorsement of outgoing Council member Kevin Lynch, who also endorsed David Brown and Holly Edwards." (David Moltz, C-Ville Weekly, June 5, 2007)