hyperbole has obtained the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee’s 2025 City Council Candidate Questionnaire for those seeking the party’s endorsement this November.
The contents of this questionnaire was never intended to be shared with the public, and instead were distributed internally to FDC members, who were instructed not to share the questions or the responses with non-members.
In the interest of transparency, an informed public and to provide background for forthcoming reporting, hyperbole has made them available below:
Fredericksburg Democratic Committee 2025 City Council Candidate Questionnaire
This questionnaire will serve as the primary source of information for the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee to assess local non-partisan candidates’ alignment with our committee’s values. Interested candidates must complete the questionnaire by 5 pm on July 2nd and may attend our July 9th committee meeting to speak briefly to our membership. Endorsement by the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee does not make any requirements on the candidate or imply the candidate’s membership in the Democratic Party.
Background & Qualifications
The questions in this section are designed to give us a snapshot of your commitment to our community as well as your ability to execute the duties of the office you seek.
🔴 Briefly describe your professional and community background.
🔴 Why did you choose to run for this office in 2025?
🔴 What would you consider to be your most important professional or public service achievement to date?
Local Issue Positions
In this section, we hope to gain a clearer picture of how you would govern the city and how that governance would align with the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee’s values and mission.
Fredericksburg School System
As a City Councilor, you will have oversight of the school system’s budget and construction, which can significantly impact how our school system functions.
🔴 As a City Councilor, what would be your top three priorities for our school system?
🔴 What is your position on increasing funding for our public schools? Increasing funding could raise local taxes, while not increasing funding could result in FPS teachers and staff not receiving competitive pay – how would you weigh these potential implications?
🔴 Do you support charter schools or school vouchers? Please explain.
Fredericksburg endeavors to be a Climate Forward City that prioritizes its “Environmental Sustainability Program,” which is “dedicated to environmental compliance, public education, pollution prevention, and environmental sustainability and stewardship”.
🔴 What specific actions would you support to manage the causes and effects of climate change in our city?
🔴 How would you balance environmental protection with economic growth?
🔴 Do you believe the city is on track to achieve its stated goal of having all municipal buildings powered by renewable energy by 2035, and transition city-wide by 2050?
🔴 What specific actions would you support to ensure Fredericksburg reaches its renewable energy goals?
Housing and density are contentious issues in the city. With limited land and historical architectural concerns, we face challenges not unknown to other growing cities, but with our own unique twist.
🔴 Do you believe that encouraging affordable workforce housing within city limits should be a priority for the City Council?
🔴 Do you think we should create rent control programs or other tenant protections?
🔴 Do you think it should be a priority to house first responders, teachers, and police within city limits?
Development and Historical Protections can clash with one another in a city as old as ours. Balancing growth with maintaining a cohesive historic fabric is no easy task.
🔴 As a City Councilor, what specific measures would you take to protect our historic resources while also promoting necessary growth?
Immigration is a very real issue across the country and in our community.
🔴 As City Councilor, what is your view on immigration, and how would it inform your decisions on the council?
🔴 Do you believe that the City is doing enough to support local immigrant populations?
LGBTQIA+ rights are top of mind as we end Pride Month, but our committee always strives to support all members of our diverse community.
🔴 What are your views on LGBTQIA+ rights?
🔴 Do you think that the City is doing enough to support our LGBTQIA+ community?
Abortion rights are often seen as a distant issue that does not matter to local races, but as we have seen in other locales, zoning rules and regulations can make a huge impact on people’s ability to access affordable healthcare in a timely manner.
🔴 As City Councilor, would you work to support women’s continued access to safe, affordable healthcare that includes abortions, birth control, and Plan B?
Alignment with Democratic Values
Although your seat is not partisan, an endorsement by the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee would indicate that we find your values to align more closely with those of our committee and the State and National parties.
🔴 How do your values align with your understanding of the Democratic Party’s platform and the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee?
🔴 If endorsed, will you participate in Committee activities when appropriate and you are able?
🔴 Have you sought or received any other endorsements? If so, please list those below.
