Candidates for Harrisonburg City Council

With exactly one week until November’s midterm elections, all five candidates running for Harrisonburg City Council visited campus on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Each candidate was able to share some of their views and proposals with EMU students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the community. Held in the University Commons Hall of Nations, this assembly was formatted in such a way that each candidate was allotted an equal amount of time to give an opening statement, respond to three separate questions prepared by EMU students, and reply to three different questions from community members during the Question and Answer session. This event was organized by EMU’s Civic Engagement group, a combination of various clubs that have been working to increase political awareness and involvement on campus.

The five candidates are running for two available seats on Harrisonburg City Council. Three of the candidates are running as independents, while the other two are running as Democrats. Chris Jones, who has been on Harrisonburg’s City Council since 2015 and is running for re-election, is one of two Democratic candidates. One of Jones’ main focuses in this forum is his proposal for the creation of a Sustainability Coordinator position in order to further address and combat the serious threat of climate change on a local level. Two of his other leading focuses included criminal justice reform and public education.

Sal Romero, who came to the United States as a Mexican immigrant in 1991, is the second Democratic candidate. Romero believes he holds a unique outlook on the city of Harrisonburg as an immigrant who has spent his entire life here. The safety of the people of Harrisonburg is Romero’s number-one concern. He stressed the fact that any person can be vulnerable at any given time, and because of this it is important to care for and reach out to all communities. Romero presented his view that students should be educated about the environment from a young age.

Carolyn Frank, an independent who has spent eight and a half years on City Council, discussed different ways she has been involved in bettering the community over the years, including the creation of the city’s first soccer club, advocating for children in foster care, and helping to create smoother transitions for ex-prisoners who are attempting to integrate back into society. Responding to a question about environmental care, Frank stated her opinion that, at the moment, the city does not have the funds to put a ton of emphasis on the environment, and that it is young people like EMU students who play critical roles in discovering more economically-sound ways to deal with our city’s trash.

Paloma Saucedo is another independent candidate running for City Council. Saucedo introduced herself as an openly-queer Latina, and argued that it is time for more women and members of the LBGTQ community to be elected. She stressed her views that addressing issues from a restorative justice approach, and confronting the actual causes and roots of the major issues we see today, are the best ways to manage our city’s problems.

Last but not least, Frank McMillan is the third independent who will be listed on Tuesday’s election ballots. McMillan believes his experience running a small business in Harrisonburg allows him to relate to members of the community. He believes in promoting and supporting private, non-profit organizations who will take a “hand up, not hand out” approach to helping the city’s most vulnerable communities. He supports working with environmental-friendly companies like BioFusion to begin moving away from Dominion Power and toward reliable solar and wind power.