Former state senator Joe Morrissey enters race for Petersburg City Council

Former state Sen. Joe Morrissey is launching yet another political comeback, this time at the local level and setting the stage for what is likely to be the hottest race of the 2026 Petersburg council election cycle.

In a brief statement June 16 – the final day to get qualified for the November ballot – Morrissey said he will run for the Ward 5 seat that encompasses much of central Petersburg.

The announcement, which was not unexpected since Morrissey had been circulating petitions for several months, sets up a potential large showdown with longtime incumbent and former mayor Howard Myers, who has been on council since 2011 and is considered, along with Mayor Sam Parham, to be a significant power-wielder on Petersburg policy strategy.

It will likely become the most closely watched council campaign in recent Petersburg history in a season where four seats and their incumbents will be on the ballot. Along with Myers and Parham in Ward 3, Ward 1’s Marlow Jones and Ward 7’s Arnold Westbrook Jr. are also seeking re-election.

Running on record 

In the announcement, Morrissey said he was “both pleased and honored” to be running. He said he filed the necessary paperwork with 663 signatures – more than six times the minimum requirement of 125 – with the Petersburg registrar’s office on June 15.

Morrissey said his campaign blueprint will be based on his three major accomplishments for Petersburg during his four years in the Virginia state Senate.

“During the upcoming campaign, I will focus on what I accomplished for the city of Petersburg as a state senator including tearing down the Ramada Inn, single handedly bringing the casino to Petersburg, and expanding the footprint of the Petersburg Pharmaceutical Ingredients Campus,” he stated.

The Ramada Inn was a long-vacant high-rise former hotel at the Washington Street-Wythe Street interchange off Interstate 95. For years, it greeted motorists with an image that Petersburg leaders had detested but unable to persuade the property owner to knock it down.

As state senator, Morrissey was able to secure state funds that assisted Petersburg in its eventual takeover of the property and the building’s eventual demolition in late 2022

Morrissey made the Ramada Inn a centerpiece of his successful 2019 defeat of Sen. Rosalyn Dance in the Senate district’s Democratic primary, calling it an example of blight that had bedeviled Petersburg for too long.

He played a mostly infrastructural role in developing Petersburg’s pharmaceutical industry, but the lead on that was largely Virginia’s lawmakers in Washington and top thinkers in the scientific industry.

Morrissey was also the initiator of bringing what would be Live! Casino Virginia to Petersburg. When Richmond voters defeated a referendum that would have put a casino in Virginia’s capital, Morrissey immediately began pushing for the project to come 25 miles south to Petersburg.

However, his efforts to win the casino for Petersburg were not warmly embraced by his colleagues in the General Assembly, and the casino project finally crossed the legislative finish line the year after Morrissey was defeated for re-election.

Four key areas of council service 

In the announcement, Morrissey said he wants to bring a businesslike approach to solving problems not only unique to Ward 5 but to the city as a whole. That included fixing Petersburg’s water and sewer infrastructure – some of which is more than a century old and recently subjected to breaks and repairs – rebooting Petersburg’s water meters, another sore subject among Petersburg citizens; continuing to support Petersburg’s road back to total fiscal stability; and lowering the city’s real-estate property tax rate by 3 cents.

“I have a background in economics, chemistry and business, and will put all three to use to help steer the Petersburg city government in a businesslike fashion,” Morrissey said in closing his announcement.

A career of highs and lows 

Throughout his political career – which included time as commonwealth’s attorney in Richmond and a member of the House of Delegates – Morrissey has been a lightning rod and polarizing figure. His supporters have always been extremely loyal to him, pointing out how he puts citizens’ needs first, while his opponents make hay of the problems he has faced both in and out of the public arena.

Morrissey has endured many personal, political and professional crises during his time in the public eye – including a battle with his estranged wife over custody of their three children. Morrissey also spent time in jail on charges of having a relationship with an underage staff member in his office who eventually became that wife, but he was pardoned by former Gov. Ralph Northam the day before the Democratic governor left office in 2022.

Between his departure from the House of Delegates and his election to the state Senate in 2019, Morrissey attempted to resurrect his political career with an unsuccessful bid to become Richmond’s mayor.

Shortly after his Senate defeat, Morrissey began efforts to move to Petersburg, leading to speculation he might run for council in the near future.

He bought a home at the corner of Wythe and South Market streets and has spent the past few years renovating it. In the interim, he has met Petersburg’s council residency requirement by setting up a home at another location in Ward 5.

Reporting by Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progress-Index