Virginia Beach Election Results: Most Incumbents Retain City Council and School Board Seats

Virginia Beach Voters Keep Most Incumbents, Oust District 4 Council Member

Janet Byrnes, a 38-year-old retired Virginia Beach master police officer and the only first-time City Council candidate on the ballot, held a commanding 55% lead over incumbent Amelia Ross-Hammond as all eight precincts in District 4 reported by 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to unofficial results. The Virginian-Pilot reported that Byrnes, who held off on declaring victory Tuesday night while awaiting additional votes, appears poised to unseat Ross-Hammond, who previously served on the council from 2012 to 2016.

The District 4 contest stands as the lone exception in a night where most incumbent Virginia Beach City Council members appeared headed back to their seats. Six districts were up for election Tuesday—the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th—covering both City Council and School Board races. With all precincts reporting by Wednesday morning, the unofficial tallies show a electorate largely content with the status quo, save for the one district where a newcomer with a law enforcement background displaced a returning incumbent.

Virginia Beach voters decide on city council seats

In District 2, 84-year-old Barbara Henley—who has served non-consecutive terms on the council since 1978—led her two challengers with 41% of the vote, while Jeff Bruzzesi took 34% and Elaine Fekete garnered 23%, The Virginian-Pilot reported. Henley’s longevity in office, spanning nearly five decades of intermittent service, appears to have insulated her from the anti-incumbent sentiment that felled Ross-Hammond.

District 4’s race carried particular weight given Byrnes’s unique profile. As the only City Council candidate running for office for the first time, she defeated Ross-Hammond despite the incumbent’s prior tenure. Neither Byrnes nor Ross-Hammond could be reached for comment Wednesday, and the unofficial results released Wednesday morning did not yet include provisional or post-election mail ballots, leaving a narrow window for the outcome to shift.

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Elsewhere on the council, the margins were more comfortable. In District 6, incumbent Worth Remick, a 66-year-old commercial real estate professional, captured 63.8% of the vote against R.K. Kowalewitch with all 10 precincts reporting.

“It’s always nice to engage the public in a campaign because you learn a lot from the voters and what’s on their minds,” Remick said. “We worked hard and are very pleased with the results, but look forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting back to work.”

District 8 saw incumbent Stacy Cummings defeat former council member Chris Taylor with 55% of the vote. Cummings, who attended Republican U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans’ watch party Tuesday night, emphasized continuity in his victory remarks.

Virginia Beach City Council incumbents hold seats; District 4 picks new representative

“We had a good message; we had a good campaign,” Cummings said. “I’ll continue to work hard for the citizens of Virginia Beach and especially District 8.”

The District 9 race proved the closest of the council contests. Joash Schulman, a 47-year-old attorney and owner of Town Center Office Suites who has represented the district since 2023, held a narrow 50.7% lead over John Moss, the 72-year-old veteran councilman who has served multiple non-consecutive terms totaling 18 years. Moss had previously challenged Schulman and another candidate under the city’s new election system in 2022, losing that race by 354 votes.

“(I’m) grateful for the experience to serve, and for what it means to actually deliver results for people,” Schulman said. “Because that’s what the job is about — being effective.”

In District 10, incumbent Jennifer Rouse, an assistant professor at Tidewater Community College, ran unopposed and will return to the council without a vote cast against her.

School Board Sees Two Incumbents Trailing

The School Board races delivered more turnover at the top. Thirteen candidates vied for six district seats, with three incumbents on the ballot. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Virginia Department of Elections, all precincts and mailed ballots were reported.

In District 10, School Board Chair Kathleen Brown trailed challenger Betty Spencer, who accrued 56.7% of the vote to Brown’s 42.5%. District 9’s Vice Chair Carolyn Weems held only a razor-thin lead over Suzanne Berman, 50.2% to 49.2%—a margin of roughly one percentage point that could tighten further once provisional ballots are counted.

The remaining School Board races showed clearer outcomes. In District 2, newcomer Zachery Taylor led newcomer Chris Lewis 57.5% to 41.6%. Incumbent Alveta Green of District 4 appeared highly likely to win reelection, leading Melisa Herum 67.1% to 32%. District 6 featured a three-way race among newcomers, with Antoinette Kahan leading at 48.85%, followed by Brigid Kahng at 37.2% and Kendra Edwards at 13.1%. In District 8, newcomer Natalie Bray led Andy Baan 55.1% to 44.1%.

What remains unresolved is whether the provisional and post-election mail ballots—excluded from Wednesday morning’s unofficial results—will alter any of these margins, particularly in District 9 and the District 4 council race where Byrnes held off on declaring victory precisely because those votes were still outstanding.