Kristin Szakos launches campaign for City Council

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On February 14, 2009 outside the Downtown Transit Center, Charlottesville Democrat Kristin Szakos (D) announced her campaign for one of two seats on Charlottesville City Council.  Democrats will select their nominees at a "firehouse primary" to be held on a date between May 8th and June 9th.  The general election will be held on November 3, 2009.  Two of the five at-large seats on Charlottesville City Council will be on the ballot and they are currently held by Democrats Dave Norris and Julian Taliaferro who were both elected to their first terms in 2006. 

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Szakos has been a Charlottesville resident for the past fifteen years.  She is married to Joe Szakos and has two daughters.  A former journalist, Szakos has spent the past two years as Volunteer Coordinator for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign in Charlottesville.  

Szakos told a crowd of supporters that she had never considered herself a potential candidate for political office until experiencing the Obama campaign.  “I never thought that I’d want to run for office,” said Szakos.  “Yet here I am and I am feeling really good about it.”

Szakos said the intends to channel the energy from the Obama campaign into local issues at City Hall.  “We need to talk about why there are still such great gaps in opportunity and education in Charlottesville, and work hard to close them,” said Szakos.  “We need to speak out about inequality in a town as seemingly progressive and prosperous as ours, and we need to work to change it.”

Watch the video below:

Szakos identified the following items as her campaign pledge:

• Make City government more responsive to under-served neighborhoods
• Get people involved in the decisions that affect their lives
• Listen to all perspectives and strive to find common ground
• Find new and creative solutions to persistent community problems
• Find new ways to save money and reduce energy consumption, and
• Use “people power” to bring needed change

See Charlottesville Tomorrow's Election Watch page for complete coverage of the City's 2009 elections.

Brian Wheeler