RICHMOND, Va. -- All five mayoral candidates took the stage at the Citizens' Debate Tuesday.
The debate, held at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC), was co-sponsored by Richmond First, the VMHC’s John Marshall Center, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and WTVR CBS 6.
Moderator Greg McQuade and panelists Bob Holsworth, Chris Coates and Reba Hollingsworth asked 11 questions to the candidates — Andreas Addison, Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett, and Harrison Roday.
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Citizens' Debate Recap: Where Richmond's mayoral candidates stand on key issues
The eighth question of the debate was: As mayor, how would you see your relationship with the police chief and how would you go about achieving it?
Maurice Neblett
I'd want to make sure that our department staff, our personnel, have the opportunity to vote in who they want to represent them.
Secondly, I want to make sure that we have a relationship that's going to be conducive for the growth of our communities, and that's going to be improving our community policing and also encouraging our community to be engaged.
I want to provide incentives for first responders to move back into the city with the models of the micro community programs that I mentioned that will actually save residents, and also increase the revenue for the city and also bring down the taxes.
So I want to apologize to everyone, because I know I keep the answer short and direct, because there's going to be so many issues that we have to resolve in the city, and we can't get hung up on story lines and love stories.
So I just want to make sure that it's clear and direct, that I have a plan and it's going to be effective.
Harrison Roday
I will answer this question. One thing I briefly should have mentioned in my answer on transportation is just thanking Councilman Addison for his consistent advocacy on this issue and we should recognize that for many years
With respect to the question on the police chief, I think we all know we need a strong dialog between law enforcement and our community.
We need to get to a place where community policing is a reality, where everyone in our city, no matter who they are, feels respected by any authority figure, be it someone who works for law enforcement, one of our first responders, or any member of civil service.
We need to rebuild that civic trust, and that starts with leadership. It starts with listening. It starts with having leaders who show up in communities listen to what residents need and then deliver on what they're asking for.
Michelle Mosby
I have been off Council since 2016 but I meet with our police chief and the police department monthly. Why? Because we have issues in our city. We have concerns in our city, and they need assistance from community leaders that can help us bridge the gap between community and law enforcement.
We need someone that is going to be able to stand and make sure that our young people are seeing our police in a different way. They're coming into the schools on Career Day and having more inviting moment in time.
We need to make sure that our police understand that they are not going to kill us while Black and it be a real statement that's made. We need someone that can bridge the gap between community and law enforcement.
If our city has the same issue we had in 2020 we need leadership that can handle it.
Andreas Addison
For the last 16 years, I've had the pleasure of working with everyone from Chief Rodney Monroe to current Chief Edwards, and those relationships have been really good.
As an employee, we work together on some initiatives around transparency and accountability, and then on City Council, we've worked together to make sure that we understand the budget needs, decompressing staff issues and making sure we're attracting a solid workforce.
Over the last couple years, we've seen challenges with public safety, and it is staffing-related.
As mayor, you want to see a mayor who's going to be not just working together yearly when you have the report we're showing, but you want to see the relationship we have outside in the neighborhoods, showing up at meetings across our entire community.
If there are concerns about public safety, it might be responding with a police officer or maybe a social worker, or maybe the needs of investing in a neighborhood to be safer and better lit or fixing that sidewalk.
These are the things I want to bring community together, which is why I started the participatory budgeting initiative that launched this fall.
It's to bring everyone together, and public safety is a big part of what we want to have conversations around. And that's not just police itself, but I want police to be at the table supporting your interests and investing in your communities.
Danny Avula
One of the things that's been really consistent and clear in the six months I've been campaigning is that everybody wants to be a part of a safe and thriving community.
As a public health practitioner, I start first with the lens of prevention, and want to really look at who is at highest risk of engaging in violence, making sure we're supporting them with wraparound services, mental health supports, pathways to employment so that they can choose a different path.
We also need to work with our law enforcement to make sure that we have a relationship of trust and connection with our neighborhoods, this idea of community policing that so many of us have talked about.
And we need to build culture and morale in the departments. I'm really pleased to have the endorsement of our public safety unions in both fire and police. Many of them are here in the audience tonight, but they're endorsing me because they know my track record of building organizations and improving culture, and that is what I'll do to stand with our police department, our public safety folks to help keep Richmond safe.
Learn more about the candidates
We recapped every debate question here:
- Question 1: Why you want to be mayor
- Question 2: Finance department
- Question 3: Government transparency
- Question 4: School system
- Question 5: Real estate tax rate
- Question 6: Government efficiency
- Question 7: Pedestrian safety
- Question 8: Police
- Question 9: VCU
- Question 10: Monument Avenue
- Question 11: City Charter Review Commission
Watch the full debate here or on our YouTube channel.
CBS 6 interviewed each candidate ahead of the debate, which you can find here:
- Harrison Roday (Sept. 9)
- Michelle Mosby (Sept. 10)
- Maurice Neblett (Sept. 11)
- Danny Avula (Sept. 18)
- Andreas Addison (Sept. 23)
For more information on this year’s election — and how to cast your ballot in the City of Richmond or the surrounding areas — visit WTVR’s Virginia Voter’s Guide.
You can check your voter registration here. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 15.
What hopes do you have for Richmond's next mayor? Email the CBS 6 Newsroom and let us know.
Note: WTVR used AI software to transcribe the debate and newsroom staff to edit for clarity.
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