This year’s mayoral race seems likely to stretch into December

Jeff E. Schapiro at the Times-Dispatch takes an early look at this year’s mayoral race and explains why it seems likely to stretch into December:

It’s a mini-Electoral College, of sorts, with the mayor — limited to two, four-year terms — required to carry a minimum of five of Richmond’s nine councilmanic districts, six of which were majority-minority when drawn following the 2020 census, though population growth since that decennial remapping is remaking some of these seats.

We should know by next week who among five candidates qualifies for the ballot. And if no one meets the five-district threshold on Nov. 5, the top two finishers in the popular vote would go into a runoff just over a week before Christmas to choose the mayor, whose term would begin New Year’s Day.