Newport News voters are picking their next mayor.
Current Mayor Phil Jones became the city’s youngest-ever elected mayor in 2021.
Phil Jones will face Phil Hamilton, a former state delegate whose most recent stint in politics began before Jones was born.
Hamilton represented the old 93rd District from 1988-2009. He held prominent positions on the House of Delegates education committee during that time.
He was also convicted of bribery and extortion in 2011 and got out of federal prison in 2019. According to the Department of Justice, Hamilton told Old Dominion University officials he would champion state funding for a new position, only if he was put in the paid position.
Newport News is facing a number of issues that stand to transform housing (a $400 million naval housing project), schools (a proposed local sales tax increase for school construction) and managing growth.
WHRO asked the mayoral candidates how they plan to handle such issues.
How we did it:
WHRO asked readers through its newsletter and on social media what questions they had for candidates. Participants were asked to provide location information so their feedback could be matched with their locality.
WHRO looked for common themes in readers’ questions and, when possible, included specific questions as submitted.
Candidates’ contact information was taken from the Virginia Department of Elections candidate listings. If it was incorrect or not provided, WHRO used contact information from campaign websites, public information checks or social media.
If you are a candidate and did not receive a questionnaire link and would like one, please email news@whro.org.
WHRO lightly edited responses for spelling and grammar so readers could understand candidates, but didn't edit the content of what candidates wrote. In cases where WHRO staff felt it was necessary for voters to have additional information to understand what candidates wrote, an Editor’s Note is included with links to third-party information about the topic.
If you don’t see your locality or district, it means candidates have not yet responded to our questionnaire.
We will post responses on a rolling basis until Friday, Oct. 30. If your city or county isn't listed, it means we haven't received responses from candidates yet.