SARAH BAGLEY
Democrat Sarah Bagley is a first-term city councilmember and the executive director of affordable housing non-profit Chisom. Born in the Virginia Beach area, Bagley received an undergraduate degree in government from the nearby College of William & Mary. She then received a law degree from the Catholic University of America and began clerking at the district court in Montgomery County, Maryland. Bagley spent the next eight years pursuing a career in law and worked at two firms based in Washington D.C. In 2015, she began working for Chisom. City council was Bagley’s first city government experience, though she has volunteered on several political campaigns and served as local event lead for gun-violence prevention group Moms Demand Action and as captain of the Lyles Crouch ADC precinct.
“I genuinely want to be a part of making the place I love even better for everyone,” Bagley said. “I’ve seen the impact that local government can have on improving the quality of life for people, and I want to be a part of what’s possible for the community.”
An environmentalist, Bagley helped create Alexandria’s office of climate action, which works to mitigate climate change and improve energy efficiency. She is an avid cyclist, and says she would support the creation of a connected bike lane network across the city because there is “not quite enough” connectivity within existing bike lanes to “allow people to truly get from one place to another safely.” She is an advocate for the complete streets program, which aims to make streets safer for all users, and says she supports the Duke Street in Motion project as well as free DASH buses.
“The DASH bus is a real point of pride for Alexandria in terms of the rideship recovery, the accessibility and the energy efficiency standards we’re setting,” Bagley said. “We need to continue investing in it so it can remain available to anybody who wants to give it a try or make it their primary transportation.”
With a background in affordable housing, Bagley says it is also one of her top priorities. She voted in favor of Zoning for Housing and called it an “important” step because it allows more housing to be built. She says she hopes to increase development around schools and transit hubs, and to “pursue legislative tools” that allow for “more protections for tenants.” Bagley also says she would not like the city to cooperate with ICE and that she would support Council doing “whatever we could” to make “immigrant families and communities in our city feel safe.” In terms of election reform, Bagley says she is opposed to transitioning to ward-based city council elections because “our current style of government is serving us well” and “is reflective of geography all over the city.”