Mayoral elections in Virginia Beach are held every four years to elect the

mayor of Virginia Beach The Mayor of Virginia Beach is the head of the municipal government in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which has a Council–manager government, council-manager system of government. The mayor presides over city council meetings and serves as the cer ...

. All

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...

municipal elections are required to be

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

, but most candidates can be affiliated with political parties. Virginia Beach uses a

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

, with no possibility of runoffs.

2008

The 2008 Virginia Beach mayoral election took place on November 4, 2008, to elect the next

. Incumbent Democratic Mayor Meyera Oberndorf lost re-election to Republican candidate

Will Sessoms William Douglas Sessoms Jr. (born c. 1954) is an American politician and bank officer who served as the Mayor of Virginia Beach, mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia from 2008 until his resignation in April, 2018. He was president and CEO of Towne F ...

(ending Oberndorf's two-decade tenure as the city's mayor). Will Sessoms was endorsed by Doug McCain, who is a Virginia Beach resident and

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

's son. By December 31, 2007, Sessoms had a

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

321,000 to $5,600 fundraising edge.

Results

2012

The 2012 Virginia Beach mayoral election took place on November 6, 2012, to elect the

. Incumbent Republican Mayor

won re-election with 69.01% of the vote.

Results

2016

The 2016 Virginia Beach mayoral election took place on November 8, 2016, to elect the

. Incumbent Republican Mayor

ran for a third term. He was re-elected with 54.1% of the vote.

Results

2018 special

The 2018 Virginia Beach mayoral special election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next

. concurrently with various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican mayor

resigned, which led to the special election. Republican candidate Bobby Dyer defeated Democratic candidate M. Ben Davenport with 51.80% of the vote. Dyer was a physical therapist as well as a professor of government at

Regent University Regent University is a Private university, private Christian university in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. It was founded by Pat Robertson in 1977 as Christian Broadcasting Network, Christian Broadcasting Network University and chang ...

, and M. Ben Davenport had served as an at-large member of the Virginia Beach City Council since 2015. Dyer won despite being outspent by Davenport 5 to 1.

Results

2020

The 2020 Virginia Beach mayoral election took place on November 3, 2020, to elect the

. Incumbent Republican Mayor Bobby Dyer defeated

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Jody Wagner, who was the former

Virginia Secretary of Finance The secretary of finance is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet. The office is currently vacant. List of secretaries Finance (July 1, 1972–July 1, 1976) * Walter Craigie (1972–1973) * William H. Forst (1973–1974) * Maurice B. Ro ...

and Virginia State Treasurer, with 51.64% of the vote. Bobby Dyer was first elected in a 2018 special election held due to the resignation of Mayor

Background

On February 27, 2020, city council member

Aaron Rouse Aaron Roosevelt Rouse (born January 8, 1984) is an American politician and former professional football player. A member of the Democratic Party, Rouse represents the 22nd district in the Senate of Virginia. He previously served on the Virgi ...

announced his intention to seek office. When reached by ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgi ...

'' for comment on the announcement, Bobby Dyer confirmed that he would be seeking re-election. On May 30, 2020, Rouse announced that he was dropping out of the race citing the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as the reason for ending his campaign. On June 9, 2020, former Virginia Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner announced that she would challenge Dyer in the upcoming election. On June 12, 2020, businessman Richard W. "RK" Kowalewitch announced that he would also challenge Dyer. On October 8, 2020, the Virginia Beach Forum conducted a series of interviews with Dyer, Wagner, and Kowalewitch. On November 4, 2020, results confirmed that Dyer had won the election and been reelected to a second term. That morning, Wagner conceded to Dyer, saying in a statement that they "both agreed that what our city needs right now is unity, and I look forward to working with him to move our city forward and address the critical challenges we face. While I am disappointed in the outcome of the election, I am incredibly grateful for the support from friends, family, and our entire community."

Candidates

Withdrew before the election

Endorsements

Results

2024

The 2024 Virginia Beach mayoral election took place on November 5, 2024, to elect the

. Incumbent Republican Mayor Bobby Dyer announced his re-election bid in 2023. He was reelected with 40.9% of the vote over four opponents. The mayoral election took place alongside other elections, including races for

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

Candidates

* Bobby Dyer, incumbent mayor ''(since 2018) (party affiliation: Republican)'' * Richard W. "RK" Kowalewitch, businessman and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

''(party affiliation: Republican)'' * John Moss, former at-large city councilor (2011–2022) and candidate for mayor in 2008 ''(party affiliation: Republican)'' * Chris Taylor, city councilor for the 8th district ''(since 2023) (party affiliation: Republican)'' * Sabrina Wooten, city councilor for the 6th district (2018–2023) ''(party affiliation: Democratic)''

Withdrawn

* Cheryl Turpin, former state delegate and Democratic nominee for SD-7 in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

''(party affiliation: Democratic)''

Results

References

{{reflist Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

Government of Virginia Beach, Virginia History of Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach Mayor Non-partisan elections

2008

Results

2012

Results

2016

Results

2018 special

Results

2020

Background

Candidates

Withdrew before the election

Endorsements

Results

2024

Candidates

Withdrawn

Results

See also

References