A Lynchburg City Council candidate forum kicked off Thursday evening with each of the candidates offering their views on how they would listen to the concerns of their constituents and then work to connect, rather than divide, the city’s residents.

Candidates running to represent voters in Lynchburg City Council got to speak to them one-on-one during a forum Thursday night. The Lynchburg Voters League and NAACP Branch hosted the Diamond Hill Baptist Church candidate forum. According to Virginia Public Access (VPAP), 11 candidates are running for the four open council seats representing the four wards.

Tensions ran high at Tuesday night’s Lynchburg City Council meeting as a resident called for the removal of At-Large Councilman Martin Misjuns due to allegations of promoting anti-trans content on social media and witness intimidation. The allegations come amid Misjuns’ lawsuit accusing city officials of violating his constitutional rights after he was fired from his former position as a Lynchburg Fire Department captain for posting political cartoons on his Facebook page that some claimed were offensive.

“I’ve followed Virginia politics for a long time, and I’ve never seen a local government as dysfunctional as the one currently in Lynchburg. There are lots that are politically divided — the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors is almost always evenly split between Democrats from around Blacksburg and Republicans elsewhere — but I’ve never seen the vitriol that’s present in Lynchburg, which is entirely between Republicans. All parties have factions and some degree of internal tensions, but in Lynchburg there’s open political warfare between the hardliners (Helgeson and Misjuns) and the more temperate Republicans on the council.”

A second attempt by Lynchburg City Councilmembers Jeff Helgeson and Martin Misjuns to get council to adopt a resolution related to a Ward IV elections lawsuit failed Tuesday afternoon during a special council meeting that turned heated between the two councilmembers and the city attorney.

Lynchburg’s city attorney publicly clashed with two members of the city council on Tuesday, calling their recent actions and public statements in response to his communications about an election-related lawsuit “unfortunate” and “shameful.”

Work continues on Riverfront Park’s amphitheater and though it’s being constructed on a floodplain, city staff and contractors have more than prepared for the project as it has been in the works for 20 years. During a May 28 Lynchburg City Council meeting, Mayor Stephanie Reed said that the way the amphitheater has been portrayed by members of council has made it seem like it’s going to be a horrible thing for the city.

Tensions quickly escalated in the Lynchburg City Council chambers after Wednesday night's special called meeting. The meeting was in response to a lawsuit involving the two Republican candidates for the City Council 4th Ward race, but the conflict wasn't even about that.

A special called meeting of the Lynchburg City Council that would have focused on a contested council primary election was not held Wednesday because not enough council members showed up to allow the meeting to proceed. Only three members of the city council showed up for the meeting, which had been called by two Republican members who say they’re concerned about how a primary-related lawsuit is being handled.

The city, whose council has been a source of drama and political infighting over the past two years, has now offered up a new episode involving something I’ve never seen before in Virginia: a legal challenge that seeks to void an election.

A Lynchburg school board member who was recently reappointed for his third term by the Lynchburg City Council has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to city council campaigns over the past two years, both personally and through his company. Atul Gupta, who served as chairman of the board for the fiscal year ending June 30, has contributed more than $40,000 to city council campaigns in his own name and through his business since 2022, according to campaign finance records compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. 

Two Lynchburg City Council members have called a special meeting to try to prevent the city attorney from assisting the city’s electoral board in a lawsuit that seeks to throw out the results of the June 18 Ward IV Republican primary race.

Lynchburg City Council is considering changing the rules of conduct at its meetings that would prohibit members of the public from bringing signs attached to stakes or flags on poles into Council Chambers out of fear they could be used as weapons.

Lynchburg City Council approved a proposal this week to use a building owned by Ramp Church International on Memorial Avenue as a homeless shelter, a facility that will provide both day and night protection for the city’s most vulnerable residents. The 4-3 vote by city council on Tuesday night came after a long discussion about how church staff will ensure the safety of the people at the shelter and the surrounding neighborhood, including students at E.C. Glass High School, located across the street from the church.

Virginia may well make a difference in the presidential race, but the presidential race may also make a difference in Virginia — specifically in city council races in Lynchburg, Roanoke and Salem. Here’s how:

Two new members will serve on the Lynchburg City School Board after a city council meeting Tuesday night. City council appointed two new members to the board — Daryl Conner for District 1 and Mark Tinsley for District 2 — and reappointed current board Chair Alta Gupta to another term in District 3.

After both Republicans in the Ward 4 City Council primary issued public statements alleging voting irregularities in their June 18th primary contest, the Lynchburg Registrar’s Office issued a formal response.

A too close to call primary race between Chris Faraldi and Peter Alexander for the Ward IV Lynchburg City Council Republican nomination is filled with new drama. Both Faraldi and Alexander are claiming the Lynchburg Registrar's Office improperly handled ballots for the race.

After a contentious city council primary, incumbent Chris Faraldi has won the Republican nomination for the Ward IV city council seat in Lynchburg. The official canvass, which was completed Monday, expanded his lead from 21 votes on election night to 33 votes. Results posted on the State Board of Elections website show Faraldi received 1,042 votes, or 50.80%, and opponent Peter Alexander received 1,009 votes, or 49.20%.

Almost 24 hours after the polls closed in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, remained locked in a tight renomination contest against a primary challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump.