Charlottesville Republicans nominated local businessman Rob Schilling as a candidate for the upcoming City Council election during a meeting last night at the Albemarle County Circuit Court.
"I think he has a real chance of winning," said Robert Hodous, chairman of the Charlottesville Republican Committee.
Schilling's personal appeal and position on issues could succeed in winning over traditionally Democratic voters, Hodous said.
Schilling agreed with Hodous and noted that voters might not focus solely on party identification.
"I'd like this race to be about issues and not about labeling," he said.
Schilling's candidacy puts to rest speculation that the party would only run in the City Council race if two candidates came forward to fill the two Council seats up for election May 7.
Though the committee will meet again Monday to see if a second candidate will come forward, Schilling said he believes he will be the only one.
The absence of another Republican candidate would not deter Schilling's goal of "letting people hear different points of view and decide whom they want to vote for," he said.
Topping his platform agenda were education reforms. Schilling said he hoped to open up school board positions to election in order to give voters direct representation.
"It's time to let people have a voice with an elected school board," he said.
He added that he felt his five years experience teaching elementary school children at the St. Therese School in California qualified him.
The city needs to reevaluate its use of traffic calming measures such as speed bumps and medians in infrastructure planning and instead concentrate on traffic flow, Schilling said.
City management is "working from a reactive, not a proactive stance," he said.
He added that he opposes tax measures, such as the Sidewalk Cafe Ordinance that would double the cost of outdoor dining space for restaurants on the Downtown Mall.
At a convention held last Saturday, Democrats nominated Mayor Blake Caravati and photographer and Mary Baldwin professor Alexandria Searls as their candidates for the two Council seats, currently held by Caravati and retiring Councilman David Toscano.
The list of candidates will not be set officially until after the filing deadline next Tuesday at 7 p.m., said Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta.
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