ROANOKE, Va. – On Nov. 8, Roanoke residents will be voting for three open City Council seats.
Nine candidates are running for the three seats: three Democrats, three Independents, and three Republicans.
Democratic candidates are incumbents Joe Cobb and Vivian Sanchez-Jones along with Peter Volosin.
Sanchez-Jones was appointed to the council two years ago.
She told 10 News about what she considers her biggest accomplishments during her time on the council, like raising the minimum wage for city employees and making language interpreters available at City Hall.
“People want to feel safe in their homes. And they want to go out in the community without having to think about gun violence. I’m also concerned about housing, affordable housing. And I’m also concerned about our education system,” said Sanchez-Jones.
Click through the photo gallery below to get to know all nine candidates:
Joe Cobb is looking to clench his second term on the council.
Cobb also serves as the chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Commission which was formed in 2019.
He told 10 News he hopes to build on the momentum of his work on the council and the commission.
“I think the success of working with community partners to build an infrastructure to address gun violence has been really critical,” said Cobb. “The economic investment we’ve made in Northwest Roanoke in the Melrose-Orange target area with the new Melrose Library, the Eureka Park Recreation Center that is going to be built in the next couple of years.”
Peter Volosin is an urban planner who is also a leader on a number of community boards, including the President of the Roanoke Diversity Center.
Volosin said he wants to create more after-school programs to curb gun violence and build more affordable housing options.
“We want to use our land bank to make sure that we are flipping over vacant properties and getting them built. Not only so that we can drive prices but also so we can have homeownership opportunities for first-time homebuyers as well,” he said.
Read about the three republican candidates running for Roanoke City Council, here.
Get to know the other Roanoke City Council candidates, here.