MASON BUTLER
Independent Mason Butler is a technology executive for Accelerated Solutions Group. Born in Louisville, Ky., Butler received an undergraduate degree in English from Wittenberg University, where he also played soccer. After college, Butler got a job at IBM, and later worked for several tech startups. In 2004, Butler began working for Accelerated Solutions and moved to Arlington. He settled in Alexandria nine years later. Butler is a graduate of the city academy, a board member for the Campagna Center and a poll worker. He also served on the city Scooter Commission.
“I’m running a campaign based on moderate politics,” Butler said. “When you have a country that continues to be as divided as ours, we have to find ways to recognize each other as Americans. What strengthens us is the ability to make decisions to benefit a greater group of people.”
Butler says that he opposes Zoning for Housing, as “there was a huge disconnect” between the city and residents, and that he “can’t support anything that causes the city and a group of citizens to fight it out in a courtroom.” He also says that he envisions an Alexandria where tall buildings are not constructed in historically “quaint” districts such as Del Ray. He says he does support “thoughtful” development throughout the city to increase housing affordability, and that he is “absolutely” in favor of a housing voucher program, though he says he would like to get to a point where that is not necessary to mitigate the cost of housing. He also says lowering the cost of housing could help change the culture of Alexandria.
“Where I grew up, there’s a lot of pride that people take in the city they live in,” Butler said. “They’ll go to college, or wherever else, but then they want to move back. I’ve seen that here, people that come in, they make their money and they want to leave. I think the next generation of Alexandria should be fueled by people that want to put someone ahead of themselves.”
Butler is open to the idea of ward based city council elections, and says he would support a pilot program to test if they work, as he “doesn’t believe that you should change global policy overnight.” When asked if he would support city cooperation with ICE in the event of a second Trump presidency, Butler did not directly respond, saying that he “doesn’t treat people differently” depending on their nationalities, but “is not in favor” of immigrants staying in the country if they “want to cause chaos and break laws.” On the topic of transportation, he says he supports keeping DASH buses free in the short term, but not the long term, as he says the buses could provide critical city revenue. Butler says he is opposed to the Duke Street in Motion project and that he thinks there are too many bike lanes in the city, although he would support creating “sectioned-off” bike lanes and a “comprehensive” bike trail network.
