Richmond, Virginia, held a general election on November 8, 2016. Voters elected the Mayor of Richmond, Virginia, members of the Richmond City Council, as well as several other local officials.
In an officially nonpartisan, three-way race, Levar Stoney, the former state Secretary of the Commonwealth, defeated Jack Berry, former Hanover County Administrator, and Joe Morrissey, former delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates. Former councilperson Michelle Mosby, finished in a distant third. On January 1, 2017, Stoney took office as the 80th mayor of Richmond, Virginia.
In the Richmond mayoral election, in addition to winning the popular vote, mayoral candidates must win the popular vote in five of the nine city districts. Stoney was able to achieve a majority of the popular vote, receiving 35,525 votes, in addition to winning five city districts, compared to three won by Berry and one won by Morrissey. The night of November 8, the Morrissey campaign conceded to Berry and Stoney, and Berry's campaign conceded to Stoney the following day, when provisional and absentee ballots still had Stoney in the lead.
At the age of 35, Stoney became the youngest politician to ever be elected as the Mayor of Richmond. On November 12, 2016, the Stoney campaign began the transition team between his administration, and Jones' departing administration.
Six days before the election, Jon Baliles dropped out of the race, calling on supporters to select someone else even though his name would still appear on the ballot; he cited a desire to avoid vote-splitting so that Morrissey would lose. Political experts predicted that Stoney would win more of Baliles' voters, given that the two candidates were ideologically similar. Berry commended Baliles' character for this decision.
Incumbent Democrat Dwight C. Jones was ineligible to seek re-election due to mayoral term limits. The election was the fourth citywide election for mayor through popular vote. The election is nonpartisan, meaning no candidate can be affiliated with any party on the ticket.
Early polling suggested that Joe Morrissey is the front-runner in the mayoral election, followed by Jack Berry.
Official campaign websites