Tuesday, Nov. 5, residents of Williamsburg will elect three members to the Williamsburg City Council. Of the five seats on council, the spots currently held by Vice Mayor Pat Dent, Barbara Ramsey ’75 and Caleb Rogers ’20 will be up for grabs this year.
Ramsey and Dent are running for reelection, while first timers Fraser Hudgins, Ayanna Williams ’26 and College of William and Mary adjunct lecturer Lindsay Barna have also begun campaign efforts.
College student Anne-Christian “Lulu” McCrady ’25 was originally slated to appear on the ballot, but has since dropped out of the race and declined to comment. Rogers will not be running for another term this fall, citing his desire to shift more focus toward his career at Voltus, a clean-energy technology company, in a recent article for The Virginia Gazette.
The practice of professors and students at the College running for council seats began in 2010, when Scott Foster ’10 became the first College student to run for city council. In 2016, Benming “Benny” Zhang ’16, J.D. ’20 became the second student to serve while Rogers was elected in 2020 as the third student candidate for council. Clinical associate professor of law Stacy Kern-Scheerer was most recently elected to city council in 2022.
As students return to campus and tune in to the fall election cycle, both Williams and Barna spoke to the importance of representation from the College on elected boards and both hope to continue the legacy of the College’s involvement in the greater Williamsburg community.
Williams, a current government major at the College, serves as an undersecretary of finance for Student Assembly and vice president of finance for the College’s Consulting Club. Originally from Chester, Va., Williams hopes to bring her passion for community-building, transparency and service to Williamsburg.
Her platform primarily focuses on investing in K-12 education, addressing carbon emissions, strengthening the relationship between the College and the City and increasing transparency between constituents and local government. Williams also hopes to tackle conversations surrounding affordable housing and walkable infrastructure.
“A lot of the time, the answers are within the people. I believe that Williamsburg’s a community, and when you think of community, you think of people living in unison with one another,” Williams said.
Rogers, who ran for city council during his senior year at the College, has experienced a similar trajectory to Williams. He endorsed her candidacy and spoke about the importance of students who are passionate about running for public service positions in their community.
“The city is, just by percentage, greatly made up of William and Mary students and associated faculty members,” Rogers said. “There is a built-in, natural constituency that really needs to have [student] representation on appointed boards and on elected councils.”
This summer, Williams began her campaign by knocking on doors to speak with constituents and anticipates working with a team of around 30 interns to help her with canvassing and voter turnout.
“I come from a very long line of teachers who were also very involved in public service in the community,” Williams said. “It’s very exciting and very encouraging as well to see that people are also passionate about advocating for more student representation on council.”
Barna, a visiting professor at the William and Mary Law School, follows in the footsteps of Kern-Scheerer. Kern-Scheerer ran for city council in 2022 and will end her term in 2026.
Barna’s primary inspiration for running is her goal to facilitate productive conversations about the newly proposed Williamsburg and James City County public school split. As a parent of two children in the school district, Barna is particularly passionate about ensuring student’s success.
As a professor, she also hopes to amplify concerns from students at the College, including issues such as affordable, safe housing and pedestrian safety.
“I like to create a community within the classroom, and I find that my students are willing to talk about issues with me,” Barna said. “I would hope that they would continue to if I should be elected to council, or even during this election process.”
Williams also hopes to address concerns surrounding the proposed Williamsburg Independent School System, writing on her campaign website that she plans to use the Student Performance Action Plan published on July 31 to navigate options. In addition, Barna laid out concerns voiced in this year’s independent school system feasibility study including academic performance and funding.
Barna mentioned that she always encourages her students to vote in all elections and hopes that, come November, student turnout at the polls will be substantial. She emphasized that while national elections impact the big picture, local elections are what impact students most directly within their own communities.
Rogers also gave his thoughts on student involvement, saying that he hopes they become equally as interested in local elections as they are in the upcoming presidential election.
“Please volunteer, please knock on doors,” Rogers said. “When you’re a young student wanting to learn about government to benefit your hometown or an area that you love, and just having gone to school there, you have a really unique opportunity.”
