ALEXANDRIA, Va.听听– Four terms of Bill Euille was enough for Alexandria’s voters, who for the second time in six months opted for Allison Silberberg to be the city’s next mayor.
The vice mayor held off a write-in challenge by Euille to take the city’s top office with 63 percent of the vote.听Thirty-seven percent of the ballots included a write-in candidate for mayor, which may or may not have been cast for Euille, according unofficial election results.听
听Euille decided to run as a write-in candidate after he was defeated by Silberberg in the Democratic .
“I鈥檓 deeply honored that the citizens of Alexandria have spoken overwhelmingly,” Silberberg said at an election night party at a Mexican-American restaurant in Del Ray.
鈥淚t will be a new day in Alexandria. This is a change election.听The citizens of Alexandria have voted for me, they believe in, I think, historic preservation. It鈥檚 a core value of our city and it should be a core value in our leadership.鈥澨�听
The in the city was a major issue in the city’s听primary and again in the general election.
鈥淚 kept saying it鈥檚 time for change; that we should restore the people鈥檚 trust and that we should pursue thoughtful, appropriate development that fits in and is to scale and protect our neighborhood鈥檚 quality of life and we should preserve and protect the historic districts of our city,” Silberberg said.
Euille said he knew mounting a successful write-in campaign would be difficult. But he doesn’t regret making it a competitive race for voters.听
“Alexandria will be better off for continuing to have a strong Democratic government,” he said.听听鈥淚鈥檒l continue to reside in the city, live here, work here, play here, have fun and make sure that Alexandria continues to be the best city in America.鈥�
