Catherine Davidson Announces Run for Alexandria Mayor

Alexandria City Council President Catherine Davidson is running for mayor challenging current Mayor Jeff Hall, former Mayor Jacques Roy, and newcomer Harry Hayes.

“I believe that Alexandria can reach its potential if we do things differently.” Davidson said.  “The last thing we need to do is go backward.”

She held a kickoff rally for her campaign for Alexandria mayor yesterday.  She was appointed to the city council in March of 2021 and was then sworn in as president.  She says her top priority if she wins would be keeping the city safe.

“The first three things I’m going to address is public safety, public safety, public safety.  No one is going to move here, no one is going to walk their dog, people are just afraid.  If you don’t address the problem or pretend like crime is on the decline and our zones are covered you’re never going to be able to fix that problem.”

She has been a vocal opponent of the Mayor Jeff Hall’s administration and was sued three times by hall.  The first was about budget concerns over police raises.  Hall didn’t want to un-fund positions to free up the money for those raises.  The next two suits involved requesting information about zones being covered by the Alexandria Police.

“I was given information that crime is on the decline and that all the zones are covered and it’s simply mathematically impossible.”

“We had about 12 murders then in his tenure we’ve had 35 murders and this year I think we’re close to 12 again and it’s only July.”

Davidson says that there just aren’t enough police to adequately cover the city.

“We have 161 positions of boots on the ground and 47 are missing that’s one third of the police force”

A statement by Hall in response to investigate the APD reads:

“We are disappointed the City Council has elected to conduct an unprecedented investigation… Frankly we don’t see the need for an investigation as the information the council has requested has been provided to them already … However it is their right … to investigate … as such, APD and my staff will cooperate fully.”

There were about 35 people that showed up here at Davidson’s law office including Harry Hayes who is also running for mayor.  Here’s what one supporter had to say:

“A reason I’m voting for her is because I really want when my kids get older to have the option to stay here.  If we continue down this path with crime and businesses, I might end up leaving the city.  And so I think she’s the best option for our future.”

Davidson says she is not thinking much about her opponents just on running her own campaign.

“I’m running for mayor I’m not running against anyone.  It’s democracy.”