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Charlottesville City Councilor Bob Fenwicks defeat in the Democratic primary this past Tuesday raises the stakes for progressives who are worried that if the two Democratic council nominees are elected, City Council will not do enough to alleviate poverty and prevent gentrification.

Fenwick said Thursday that the election was a referendum on his tie-breaking vote to remove the citys statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

While the statue vote may have negatively affected Fenwick, other candidates and political activists are looking at other issues and raising concerns about the direction the city could take if the two Democratic nominees newcomers Amy Laufer and Heather Hill are elected to office on Nov. 8.

Nikuyah Walker, an independent candidate for the council, said Tuesday that she anticipated Fenwick would lose because of his skepticism of high-density urban development, consultants and urban planning initiatives. Walker said Fenwick was the only candidate she voted for in the primary.

Later that night, another independent candidate, Nancy Carpenter, said on Twitter that Laufer and Hill will plaster the city with luxury high-rises and leave the working class and poor behind.

Though Carpenter filed to run, she did not qualify to be on the ballot. In addition, previously announced independent candidates Clifford Hall and Dale Woodson also ended up not qualifying.

That leaves Walker, Kenneth Jackson, Cassie Clawson, Paul Long and John Edward Hall as the independents who also will be on the ballot come November, seeking to fill two open seats on the five-member council. No Republican candidates have filed to run in this years council election.

The independents presence could heighten the drama going into the general election, as Fenwicks loss by more than 1,800 votes despite the endorsement of a local progressive group may have signaled that most voters will continue to look toward more moderate-leaning Democrats for leadership.

At least at this stage, the primary voters seemed to have made a pretty clear choice, Mayor Mike Signer said Tuesday after it became clear that Hill and Laufer would win.

Former Mayor Dave Norris, however, does not think Fenwicks loss should be seen as a referendum on the local progressive movement. Norris said the statue controversy might have played a part in his loss.

I think Bob lost because I think theres a lot of frustration in the city right now. They took it out on Bob, he said. Norris added that he thinks Laufer and Hill, who are more progressive than Bob on some issues, did a better job of campaigning and fundraising.

Its a heavily Democratic community, but it isnt monolithic, Norris said. November is going to be very interesting. Itll be the first time in many years, I think, there will be a chance for an independent candidate to break through.

In the 2015 Democratic primary for the City Council, three seats were up for grabs. Signer, Wes Bellamy and incumbent Kathy Galvin were nominated and went on to win in November while another incumbent, Dede Smith, fell short by 222 votes.

Hell probably see the same fate, Walker said of Fenwick on Tuesday as she was canvassing for commonwealths attorney candidate Jeff Fogel, a far-left candidate who fell short of the Democratic nomination Tuesday.

In the 2015 primary, Bellamy received 2,483 votes, nearly 30 percent of all votes. Signer, Galvin and Smith received between 1,600 and 1,855 votes a range of 19 percent to 22 percent of the votes. A fifth candidate that year, Lena Seville, received 651 votes, or 7.7 percent.

We know why Dede lost, Walker said. She was becoming more forceful she was becoming more concerned about environmental and housing issues.

[Democrats] want their people to follow the status quo, and she didnt do that, she said.

Earlier this year, Smith and several other progressive activists and former politicians, including Walker and Norris, helped to create Equity and Progress in Charlottesville. Norris stepped down from the groups steering committee about a month ago to focus on his personal life, he said last week.

EPiC quickly established a political platform focused on social and racial equity, economic opportunity and government accountability.

At a May Democratic candidate forum hosted by EPiC, organizers and observers were frustrated that Laufer and Hill declined to make commitments to building 1,000 new affordable housing units in the city and increasing the living wage for city employees to $15 an hour.

Progressives also were disappointed that the two hesitated to state outright whether they support the Black Lives Matter movement, and that they declined to answer a question about whether the citys Human Rights Commission should have more authority to investigate alleged human rights violations. At that forum, Hill and Laufer said Black lives matter after some pushback from the audience.

Other activists have been skeptical of how much money the two nominees raised.

According to finance reports, Hill and Laufer had outraised Fenwick who received just $4,047 by a ratio of about five to one by June 1.

Geoff Skelley, a political pundit with the University of Virginias Center for Politics, said Fenwicks admittedly lax attitude toward fundraising may have played a role in his loss.

Its hard in politics to win without competitively fundraising, Skelley said.

Of the $21,376 contributed to Laufers campaign, nearly $8,400 came from the real estate and construction sector, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Her largest donors included her husband, Aharon Laufer (who donated $2,015), and Barbara Fried (who donated $2,500). Both are involved in local real estate development.

Hill received $22,838 in campaign contributions about $8,000 came from the retail and service industry nearly a third of which was in in-kind contributions from Robert Radifera Photography. She also received about $4,000 from family members.

Last month, EPiC announced its endorsements for Fenwick and Fogel in their respective races.

All three of the candidates for City Council seemed fine to me. My decisions were based on Bob Fenwicks endorsements, primarily, said Kevin Rose, a UVa graduate student.

Similar to Democrat Ross Mittiga, who lost in the primary to incumbent David J. Toscano in his bid for the nomination for the 57th District House of Delegates seat, Rose is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Rose said he became involved with the local DSA chapter after moving to Charlottesville last year.

Toscano received 5,300 votes Tuesday, or 65 percent of the vote. It was the first time Toscano had faced a primary challenger since he first ran for the seat in 2005.

After casting his ballot at Johnson Elementary School on Tuesday, Rose said he was primarily interested in the vision Mittiga has been trying to attach to the primary to move the Democratic Party in Richmond further left in a more progressive direction.

Although he said he voted for Tom Perriello, who lost in his populist-style gubernatorial primary campaign against Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam on Tuesday, Rose said Perriellos endorsement of Laufer was not a big factor in his decision to vote for her.

Doing research about Laufer and Hill, I found that Laufer had more concrete plans on her website. Thats what it came down to for me, he said. She outlined specific plans based on her experience in the school system.

Laufer, a member of the citys School Board, was the top vote-getter Tuesday, securing nearly 50 percent of the vote.

Though Perriello lost, receiving 44 percent of vote statewide, he did well in the Charlottesville area, where he is from, claiming as much as 80 percent of the vote.

Skelley said the Perriello endorsement certainly didnt hurt [Laufer]. He credited her primary win to her campaigning and fundraising efforts.

Skelley added that the frustration with the status quo on the City Council also may have given her and Hill an edge over Fenwick.

While Hill and Laufer have been cast by some progressive activists as too moderate, Laufer said in an interview last month that she feels her School Board record and campaign proposal to offer free tuition to Piedmont Virginia Community College for qualified Charlottesville High School students exemplify her progressive policy-making.

In my opinion, what I was talking about really resonated with people, Laufer said.

Laufer and Hill also have said they will work to address affordable housing issues. Hill said she wants to work with more individuals and groups to find ways to develop more affordable housing in the city for low- and middle-income earners.

Hill said the community needs to work together to make sure that the citys 2018 Comprehensive Plan and future zoning changes will be drafted in a way that will protect neighborhoods and encourage the development of affordable housing.

Effectively balancing these needs of the community is not an easy task, she said, but it is certainly one I am committed to if elected.

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With primary past, city progressives set sights on upset - The Daily Progress