CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Political newcomer Jen Fleisher and incumbent mayor Juandiego Wade appear on track to win the Democratic Primary for Charlottesville City Council.

While mail in and provisional ballots still need to be counted, Tuesday’s vote tally in the city’s first ranked choice election gave each candidate more than 1/3 of the total.

Fleisher, a longtime Belmont resident who works as the program manager at the Blue Ridge Health District, received 3,108 votes in the city’s first ranked choice contest, equivalent to 51-percent of the vote, according to the Virginia elections website.

Wade, who campaigned together with fellow incumbent councilman Brian Pinkston, had 2,216 votes, good for 36-percent.

“I think that I’m a known quantity,” Wade told Cville Right Now on Tuesday night. “I’ve been around for 20 years as far as an elected official, involved with the community. I’m known.”

Pinkston appears to be the odd man out in the three-person race for two spots, sitting in a distant third with 823 votes, just 13-percent of Tuesday’s total.

Wade has been on the council since 2022 and became mayor in 2024. Pinkston has also been on the council since 2022 and has been the vice mayor since 2024.

All nine of Charlottesville precincts had reported by 8:10 p.m.

Tuesday’s winners are essentially winning seats on the council. There are no Republican or independent candidates entered in the race, so only an unusually large write-in campaign would deny Tuesday’s winners a spot on the council.