To the editor,
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your City Councilman since July 2009. Unfortunately that will come to an end on December 31, 2012, as the votes did not go my way in Tuesday's election.
While the outcome was not what we had hoped, I have been so fortunate over the past 3.5 years to serve the citizens of Alexandria. I have met so many kind and wonderful people from all walks of life in every part of our City over the past few years. I am grateful to the hundreds of campaign donors and volunteers who worked tirelessly on the campaign over the past six months.
Despite the ongoing enthusiasm and energetic campaign, the numbers were too much to overcome. The shift from the traditional 15 percent voter turnout for local elections to an 80 percent voter turnout for the presidential race had a heavy impact on the local results. In May 2009, 7,000 votes was enough to win a Council seat and even though over 25,000 Alexandrians supported my candidacy on Tuesday, that was still 4,500 short of victory.
Alexandria is an incredible city and will always be my home. Even though I will not have a seat at City Hall next year, I will continue to work, as I have for the over the past 20 years, to make Alexandria a better place to call home.
Congratulations to Mayor Euille, Vice Mayor Silberberg and the rest of the new City Council. My prayers and best wishes are with them as they make decisions that will shape our future.
Frank Fannon
Alexandria City Councilman
Betty Lee
1:15 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Mr. Fannon,
My family is sorry to see you go. I am a Democrat and my husband is a Republican and we both voted for you because you brought a valuable voice and alternate opinion to the Council. Alexandria needs diversity of opinions and ways of thinking on the Council. It doesn't help to have a single party rubber-stamping the party line - especially when mistakes negatively affect neighborhoods. We hope you will consider a run in the future, because you will surely have our support. All the best to you!
John Arbuckle
1:23 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Class act all the way. I hope we are lucky enough to have you serve the public again in the near future.
Lee Hernly
2:08 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Classy statement. Nice job Frank.
Dave Cheney
2:22 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Nice job and classy exit Frank! Hope to see you back in the future. We will keep the yard sign ready!
heydelray
3:21 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
I hope you try again next cycle. I too echo, " I hope we are lucky enough to have you serve the public again in the near future." I am also a D and I voted for you. We need R voices like yours on Council.
OT insider
6:25 pm on Friday, November 9, 2012
Frank - Thank you for your service to our city. I'm very sorry to see you go and I also hope you'll consider running again in 2015. You won't have the President and Tim Kaine at the top of the ticket in 2015, and I know you'll fare much better!
DSC
7:37 am on Saturday, November 10, 2012
Frank, you will be missed greatly and now we're all left with truly a single minded, (Spend), single party Local Gov (Dem)
Gail G
7:49 am on Saturday, November 10, 2012
Frank is a good guy, but it wasn't high turnout that cost him or the other Republcians the election. If you look at the results by precinct, you will see that there was a huge drop off between total votes and cast and number of votes for council candidates. That means most voters only voted for the federal offices and maybe the consitutional amendments, and then walked away and never vote for local offices at all. The vote count for the council races is generally between 10% and 15% of total votes cast, which translates to about the same number of votes we'd see when we had May elections. So, it looks like the same people voted in the council race as usual, and the high turnout for the presidential race had no effect. However, we can't tell how much "plunking" was going on, so the numbers are an estimate.
Ken Hill
8:32 am on Saturday, November 10, 2012
Super public servant and promoter of good causes! Thanks Frank! Hope you're back in elected office soon!
Ken Hill (Dem)
Nadine Boland
10:30 am on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Although I typically vote for Democratic candidates because they share my views and values, I have always voted for Frank Fannon because he too shares my views and values. Frank, thanks for speaking out on behalf of small businesses and adding value to City Council. I hope you will consider serving Alexandria again. You will have my vote.
pvogel
12:29 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
we need good people to run like Frank, because even when he loses, it keeps the winners on their toes.
Kerry Donley
2:51 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Frank, congratulations to you for your term on City Council. It was a pleasure to serve with you, an elected official who always puts the City first. You should be proud of your service.
Gail G
7:44 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Many Dems like Frank, myself included. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him.
Kim Moore
8:49 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012
Frank, Steve and I were stunned by th election results. We hope that you will stay involved in city business so that in a few years, we can bring back the Re-Elect Frank Fannon yard signs or plan for your State House efforts.
Kim
Gail G
8:13 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012
I was stunned that Alicia got more votes than Frank. As a Dem, even I thought Frank would retain his seat.