De’Andre A. Barnes is a candidate for Portsmouth City Council. His name will appear on the ballot on November 5, 2024.
Barnes, who currently sits on Portsmouth City Council, is running against ten challengers for Portsmouth City Council. The 11 candidates are vying for three open seats.
The first day of in-person early voting at your local registrar’s office for this election is Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. Click here to see who is on your ballot.
10 On Your Side reached out to all of the candidates running in this race, with a request for a bio and a list of questions to answer. If you do not see the candidate listed with a profile, we did not receive one.
Biography: De’Andre Barnes, a native of Portsmouth, attended Portsmouth Public Schools and currently has three children who attend Portsmouth Public Schools.
After graduating from Virginia State University, De’Andre devoted himself to the Portsmouth community, especially those in low-income neighborhoods. De’Andre worked countless hours with students, parents, community leaders, and more to ensure his kids had the necessary resources to succeed. Through his accomplishments in the community, De’Andre learned what it would take to turn around Portsmouth’s schools and give kids a truly high-quality education.
Today, De’Andre runs a successful nonprofit organization, the Portsmouth City Sports Club, Incorporated. The nonprofit has been running for nearly seven years now. The Portsmouth City Sports Club has served over 4,000 children through various programs. The club also has very strong links to its local community. This coupled with De’Andre’s service on many boards of Portsmouth, Virginia shows his belief in bringing communities together to resolve conflicts and make progress. De’Andre was elected on November 6th, 2018, as the youngest ever to the Portsmouth School Board. On November 3rd, 2020, he was elected as the youngest ever to the Portsmouth City Council at the time, where he received more votes than any other council candidate in the race. On January 4th, 2021, De’Andre was voted in as the youngest-ever Vice Mayor for the city of Portsmouth, by his peers.
De’Andre was raised in Portsmouth, Virginia by his grandmother, Florence Artis, and parents, Janice Barnes and Benny Harvie an Army veteran. At an early age, his parents instilled in him the importance of public service and a good education. Those values are the foundation upon which De’Andre serves today. De’Andre grew up in Dale Homes. He graduated from the Historic I.C. Norcom High School. He graduated from Virginia State University with a Bachelor’s in Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Affairs from Norfolk State University.
While attending Norfolk State, De’Andre started as an intern for Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, only the 2nd African American Congressman to be elected to Congress from Virginia. After a year with Congressman Scott, De’Andre became a Legislative Assistant, working under that title for almost six years. He left Congressman Scott’s office in 2015 to return to Portsmouth to serve as a Youth Service Coordinator with Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Today he continues to serve on city council and is a small business owner.
Why are you running for this office?
I ran for office, and I continue to run for office because I want to make sure that our kids are taken care of, I want to make sure that all citizens have a voice, and I want to make sure that our public safety has all the resources needed to make sure our citizens are safe. I have done this by making sure that our school system has all the resources they ask for. As your current council member, I voted to fully fund education for the first time in history in 2021 and have voted to do it all 4 years on city council. This incudes this year, in which the school system asked for $15 million. This was the biggest ask in history and I voted to fund them. Included in that budget was a 7% increase to teachers’ salaries, and all school staff. Since being on council, the salaries of teachers and staff have gone up by over 14%. Also, you give your kids something to do. Since being on council, I have voted to invest $1.5 million in non-profit organizations that directly affect our children. I advocated and designed our new summer jobs program for teens and pushed for 400 children to attend our summer camp program for kids ages 4-16. Moreover, you must make sure that businesses are hiring Portsmouth residents. I have been an advocate for this.
What is the top challenge facing Portsmouth, and how would you address it?
Gun violence is the top challenge facing Portsmouth. I will continue to address gun violence by dealing with the root issues. When crime happens, when someone goes to jail, or when gun violence happens, the issue didn’t start that day, it started when they were able to choose that lifestyle. We must stop people from choosing that lifestyle. The way you do that is by making sure that your school system has all the resources they ask for. That starts with fully funding education. As your current council member, I voted to fully fund education for the first time in history in 2021 and have voted to do it all 4 years on city council. This incudes this year, in which the school system asked for $15 million. This was the biggest ask in history and I voted to fund them. Including in that budget was a 7% increase to teachers’ salaries, and all school staff. Since being on council, the salaries of teachers and staff have gone up by over 14%. Also, you address crime by giving your kids something to do. Since being on council, I have voted to invest $1.5 million in non-profit organizations that directly affect our children. I advocated and designed our new summer jobs program for teens and pushed for 400 children to attend our summer camp program for kids ages 4-16. Moreover, you must deal with the economics of it. Gun violence is the cause of poverty, so you must make sure that citizens have quality jobs, and you must make sure that businesses are hiring Portsmouth residents. As you’re a member of council for the last four years, I have advocated against storage facilities, and car washes, including getting an ordinance pass stopping the approval of car washes without council approval. With limited space, we can’t afford to continue to allow businesses that don’t provide living wage jobs, and car washes and storage facilities do not provide our residents the best opportunities to succeed. By doing these things, our police chief has reported that crime has gone down 19%. By continuing to do the things mentioned, and more, we should be able to cut crime/gun violence down by 38% by the end of the year.
What is your view addressing the affordable housing crisis?
You must address the affordable housing issue by making sure citizens have access to living wage jobs. You must make sure that citizens have quality jobs, and you must make sure that businesses are hiring Portsmouth residents. As you’re a member of council for the last four years, I have advocated against storage facilities, and car washes, including getting an ordinance pass stopping the approval of car washes without council approval. With limited space, we can’t afford to continue to allow businesses that don’t provide living wage jobs, and car washes and storage facilities do not provide our residents the best opportunities to succeed. By providing citizens with
living wage jobs, you provide them the opportunity to buy homes, which will allow them the opportunity to build wealth, which will help deal with the affordable housing crisis. Also, you need to build more housing, especially affordable housing. If you do this, it offsets the gap. Lastly, you can provide tax credits to builders who construct affordable housing.
The city has a longstanding history of disfunction on City Council. How will you civilly work with your colleagues?
If you ever fought for an issue, you know that you must fight. The perception that city council is dysfunctional is media driven and unwarranted. The perceived dysfunction has gotten our public school system fully funded for the first time in history in 2021, and every year after. The perceived dysfunction has gotten us $25 million investments in public safety. This has never been done in the city of Portsmouth. The perceived disfunction has gotten over 130 kids in Portsmouth summer jobs, giving them the work experience and work ethic that will get them good jobs in the future. Moreover, it has got over 400 kids free summer camp, that will help keep money in their pockets, allowing them to do more for their families. If this is dysfunction, I am perfectly ok with continuing it.
What is your vision for the former Civic Center and Holiday Inn site in Olde Town Portsmouth?
My vision for the downtown development would include mixed use, to include a combination of housing, retail, and entertainment. An example would be the Wharf in Washington DC. The Wharf is DC’s most exciting waterfront neighborhood. It is home to over 80 restaurants and shops, four hotels, and thousands of residents and workers. I took a visit to DC, just to see how it looks, to bring this back to Portsmouth. This is my vision and what I would like to see for the direction of the former Civic and Holiday Inn site in Olde Town Portsmouth.
What is your view on taking money from individuals who will likely have business before the city?
This is a tough question because you do not know if a person who donates to you will eventually do business with the city, nor do you want to discriminate against citizens wanting to show support to your campaign. Voters vote on interest, and those who must like would vote like they would. When donating to candidates’ campaign, the same philosophy is used. It comes down to the candidate doing their research on the donor and exercising discernment. This is on a case-by-case basis.
