Tuesday, Nov. 5, Ayanna Williams ’26 scored a major election victory, winning a spot on the Williamsburg City Council. Originally from Richmond, Williams has always had a special place in her heart for Williamsburg, a middle ground between her home and family in Hampton. Now a student at the College of William and Mary, Williams has developed even more appreciation for the local community that fosters meeting new people at every turn.
Before running for City Council, Williams served on Williamsburg For All as a finance director. Williamsburg For All is a political action committee that advocates for increased student involvement in Williamsburg local politics. In her time with this group, she grew aware of a range of student issues that often go unaddressed.
“What motivated me to run was bringing to light some of those issues that haven’t been prioritized in the past and making sure that everyone has a seat at the table to be heard on issues that matter to them,” she said.
Williamsburg For All supported Williams’ campaign financially and provided guidance throughout the campaign process.
Williams focused on a variety of different student-centered issues throughout her campaign, using them to connect with the student body. She advocated for more affordable and accessible housing that is not broken down or in rough condition. She also promoted investing in education and protecting the environment since green space is a prominent attractive feature of Williamsburg. To make these goals a reality in the future, Williams is planning to take a collaborative approach with fellow council members and the city at large.
“I believe that a lot of the times, our answers to challenges are found with having conversations with people that might not see eye to eye, but create a well diversified perspective on an issue,” she said. “So that’s my plan, is to have conversations, really brainstorm and put things into action.”
The process of running for city council began in June, and once she decided she wanted to run, Williams had to collect 125 required signatures from Williamsburg residents to be put on the ballot. Friends who were involved in past campaigns made up the core campaign team, and there were an additional 10 to 12 interns at any given time working on tabling, speaking to clubs and knocking doors around town.
Williams spoke on the two sides of the campaign: the campus operation and the greater Williamsburg operation.
“In Williamsburg, that included knocking on doors, attending events. There were also several, several forums and one actually being on campus, which was very exciting,” she said. “That happened as well. So really just meeting with different members of the community and talking through what are some of the best ways that we can approach an issue. I believe that issues aren’t always black or white. There’s several different perspectives and ways that we can approach any problem.”
Fundraising was a major endeavor for the campaign, and occurred mostly during the summer months and into September. The majority of fundraising came from reaching out to different people in the community through phone calls, along with some support from Williamsburg For All. The campaign took advantage of technology, including digital ads on Instagram.
In the end, the efforts of the campaign proved to be successful, but the journey to get to the finish line was not always smooth. One of the challenges for Williams was being able to trust that all her efforts were enough.
“As you can imagine, there’s always this kind of balancing act because we’re all students, like my team is all students,” she said. “Being a student is a full time job, so having that and also everyone placing in like hours and hours with the campaign. So just making sure that we’re balancing everything well and also, doing what we can to make meaningful connections.”
Williams was with her family when she found out she won, and it was a memorable experience she’ll remember for her entire life. The swearing in ceremony was Jan. 6, and after that, the real work began. There is no fixed time schedule for city council members, just two meetings per month and city events Williams will attend to meet with people in the Williamsburg community.
Williams is an active member on the College’s campus as well, formerly serving as the Undersecretary of Finance in Student Assembly. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the business fraternity, and is grateful for the support of her brothers throughout the entire campaign. They came to her campaign launch and made sure people voted across campus.
Williams’ future aspirations potentially include law school. Although still pursuing her undergraduate degree, Williams has already experienced success both in school and at the community-wide level. Her advice to other students who want to make a change is to just take that initial jump.
“I got to a point where I was like, we need to stop talking about the things that we want to see change and actually take action on it. And I think that’s like the main premise because that can be scary. It’s so easy just to have conversations and talk about the things that we need to change, but actually doing the work can be a little scary and it’s hard work. So I would just encourage anyone that wants to see change in any area to, you know, start looking into ways of implementing change,” she said.
