John Baber‘s passion is public service and he would like to use that work experience as Staunton‘s next Commonwealth’s Attorney.
Running as an Independent, Baber spends his weekdays prosecuting criminal cases and his weekends knocking on doors to introduce himself to Staunton voters.
“Crime, when it’s happening, does not stop to ask if you’re Democrat or Republican,” Baber, 43, said.
While he believes that Staunton residents, and Americans overall, deserve a fair and impartial court system, his career did not start as an attorney.
Baber, who grew up in Clifton in northern Virginia, earned a bachelor’s in history from George Mason University and a master’s in education from UVA. He taught at Charlottesville High for three years, but had always wanted to go to law school.
The problem was that the commitment of going to law school scared him. He realized that he should practice what he preached, because he was always telling his high school students they could do whatever they put their minds to.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t do well [in law school],” Baber said.
He went to Baltimore to attend University of Baltimore Law School, where he was editor in chief of the Baltimore Law Review. He then clerked for the senior judge on the Maryland State Supreme Court and was on the path toward working in corporate law when he met a man who was the No. 2 public defender in Maryland.
“And, after meeting him, I decided that’s what I want to do,” Baber said. He wanted to protect the civil rights of individuals instead of chasing profits.
That conversation made Baber realize that he wanted to use his law degree to serve others. So he served as a public defender in Baltimore for a few years, then came to Staunton where he was in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office from 2019 to 2022.
Baber took a year off as a lawyer to work on restoring his and his wife’s 1840 home in Staunton. Besides the law and serving others, he is passionate about historical restoration and being able to “make sure that something lasted that deserves to last.”
He returned to the law in summer 2023 as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Waynesboro.
And, now he is running for Commonwealth’s Attorney of Staunton against Joseph Perry, Staunton’s Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney since 2020.
“Because, I care about this city a lot and the right person has to do this job for the city,” Baber said.
A city’s Commonwealth’s Attorney is a public-facing job, according to Baber.
“It is more than just going to court and handling your cases. It is interacting with the community, being proactive with issues, following the trends, reaching out to service providers, to all the stakeholders in the city to figure out how to not just best handle the crime but proactively prevent the crime, to train the police as best as possible, to work with the sheriff’s office.”
Baber has knocked on hundreds of Staunton doors so far.
“I view every door that I knock on as a mini interview,” he said. Meeting Staunton‘s residents one-on-one gives voters the chance to ask him what they need to know before Election Day.
Staunton‘s current Commonwealth’s Attorney, Jeff Gaines, announced his retirement after more than 30 years serving the Queen City. Baber worked with him when he was in the Staunton office. Gaines was Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney under Ray Robertson, who also retired, and ran unopposed in 2017.
The race for Commonwealth’s Attorney of Staunton is up to voters again for the first time in a generation.
“This is not a job to be inherited,” Baber said of Gaines running unopposed. He said he is running for office in the way that he will run the office if elected.
As a prosecutor of criminal cases, Baber puts drunk drivers, violent individuals, thieves and drug dealers in prison. However, he also believes that training police to understand the law they are enforcing is important, as well as partnering with community organizations and preventing crime. He works with compassion toward individuals who have committed crimes, because he knows they are someone’s spouse, child or sibling. Someone in their lives cares about them, regardless of what they did to be in a courtroom and facing prison time.
“I would love if my office shrank,” Baber said of staff to prosecute crime, but with an opioid epidemic and increasing population growth, he does not see that happening. “You can’t prosecute your way out of a drug epidemic.”
Baber learned of the human condition as a high school teacher in Charlottesville. His students were from low-income families. As a public defender in Maryland he again was reminded that the individuals who commit crimes are also humans.
“Everyone deserves due process and everyone deserves to be treated decently. It doesn’t serve anyone to call someone a ‘monster.’ You can say their actions were horrific, but, again, even you if you never the see defendant again, you’re going to see his mom around town,” Baber said. The behavior of criminals should be punished, but they are also humans.
He said that voters may not know he does not support the mindset of “that’s how we do it here” and following the status quo. He respects traditions, but status quo does not allow a city to grow and adapt to change. He looks to the future of crime and knows he and his staff will have to use innovation and technology to prosecute criminals.
Voters may also not know that Baber has an identical twin brother, Joseph (Baber) Peacock, who lives in Charlottesville and owns and operates Peacock Auto Service.
Baber said he encourages voters who are upset with national politics in 2025 to meet anyone running for local offices, get out and vote in every election, attend city council meetings and serve on jury duty when called to do so. Put fear and concerns to work by action in their communities. Fear can be healed by getting involved locally.
“Just because things are poisonous on the news, in the newspapers or nationally does not mean that neighbors don’t get along here,” Baber said.
Baber and his wife, Cassondra, live in Staunton with their 2-year-old son, Burton.
“How we run for office is how we’re going to run the office,” Baber said. He continues to knock on doors on the weekends because voters deserve the opportunity to meet who they will vote for. He said he would be proud, but humbled to serve Staunton as Commonwealth’s Attorney.
He is old enough to have the experience to serve as Staunton’s Commonwealth’s Attorney but also young enough to have the energy to serve.
“I feel called to assist others,” Baber said.
Building Bridges will host a candidates forum between Baber and Perry on Monday, September 15, 2025 at 6 p.m. The location has yet to be determined. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
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Rebecca Barnabi
