Roanoke City Council Races

NLS beat me to the punch, but this year should have an interesting one in the Roanoke City council elections. There are 10 people running for 3 seats. The 2 GOP candidates are Stuart Revercomb and Mark McConnell who seem to have the support of at least part of the Roanoke business community. They are running as the pro-business ticket.

Anyway, its my understanding that the dems actually have 2 slates of candidates. Bowers, MacFarlane and White are the official ticket; but apparently a few of the other independents are being supported by prominent dems. The GOP sees an opportunity here to take advantage of the perceived rift in the Roanoke democratic party.

At a recent GOP meeting, the statement was made that they have "a historic chance to take back city council". The Revercomb/McConnell ticket has raised a good bit of money (61k to be exact) which was largely financed by the Via family and the candidates' families. They have also been actively campaigning for awhile now.

Beyond this, I have no idea what the outlook is. Certainly the GOP thinks they have a great shot at winning here, but I am still skeptical. If the GOP base can be mobilized in the city, I think the GOP ticket will win. With such a diluted slate of candidates, even a GOP minority could win in this situation. I will be surprised if this slate can garner crossover support like Ralph Smith did a few years ago.
The thing that concerns me if that it seems the strategy hasn't been run correctly. In a race like this, the GOP should be telling their people to vote ONLY for Revercomb/McConnell in order to lessen the votes for a third candidate who could eventually be the one who beats one of the GOP ticket.
Should be an interesting race.