The voters in Ward D in Waynesboro made the mistake in 2022 of not realizing that Sam Hostetter was not only a pretty good City Council member, but also that the guy they were about to put on City Council in his place, Jim Wood, is a MAGA homophobe who was about to embarrass the city in national news headlines.
Ward D, the wealthiest of our four wards – and also the only Republican ward that we have left – has a chance to rectify that mistake.
Hostetter lost to Wood by 17 votes in the 2022 election, but he’s back four years later, making another go at it.
I wouldn’t do it – I ran one time for a seat on City Council, back in 2008, lost in a landslide to Bruce Allen, an affable, mostly harmless Frank Lucente stooge, and decided to take my ball and go home.
Hostetter, a primary care doctor with UVA Health, probably has more than enough on his plate keeping up with his patients’ health – disclosure: he’s my family doc.
It’s a small town; we’re all one degree of separation from each other here.
I gave Hostetter heck after his 2022 loss because my analysis of why he lost was, I didn’t think he took Jim Wood seriously enough.
Which, can’t necessarily blame him there – Wood had run for the at-large seat on City Council in 2020, and lost by 14.1 points to Terry Short, who went on to win re-election in the 2024 cycle.
Wood came out of the woodwork in 2020 as a Second Amendment sanctuary guy, then launched a podcast on which he praised the Jan. 6 coup plotters, and on the eve of the 2022 election, used his digital airwaves to cast the attack on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in which Paul Pelosi had his skull broken by an intruder, as a spat between gay lovers.
Because the guy is a homophobe, right? And that’s what you do when you’re a homophobe.
From the archives
- Coverage of Jim Wood: click here.
That was all before Wood went off on a podcast on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, giving the Democrat the name “Pete Buttplug” – this is the incident that led to the embarrassing national headlines, in addition to calls from fellow City Council members for Wood to resign.
Lesson learned: we even need to take the crackpots seriously.
I get the sense that Hostetter is taking his 2026 run as serious as a … well, the cliché would be serious a heart attack, but can I get away with that, in a column about a doctor?
I’ll go with it.
Hostetter is doing the door-knocking and coffee chats that you need to do to try to connect with voters.
We did a short Q&A on issues of the day in the city.
Here it is, in its entirety.
AFP: Gotta start with Mimosa Farm. That issue is likely to come up for a vote after the first of the year. How will you approach that issue?
Sam Hostetter: I think this starts with the zoning. I don’t know if you have wandered or driven around the neighborhood, but I have spoken with several neighboring homeowners, and it is generally a peaceful neighborhood. The events that have already occurred bring in lots of noise, light and extra traffic. The CUP as proposed clearly was not in keeping with the tone of the neighborhood, and placed one person’s interest above all others. In that form, I suspect it was not going to pass, and knowing that if it was voted down, she would have to wait a year to resubmit, the owner asked for it to be tabled. It doesn’t sound like there has been much movement on recasting the proposal, so I don’t know what will come back to council in January. The neighbors I have spoken with certainly are not in favor of even a watered down version, and if the owner’s claims are true, there needs to be a lot of events for the business to support itself. I’m staying in touch with those folks and will be checking with current council members as things develop.
AFP: DEQ has issued the permit for Northrop Grumman regarding hazardous pollutants. What can the city do going forward to ensure that we’re protected in terms of the impact of having tons of pollutants injected into our air from a health standpoint?
Sam Hostetter: This is the next question. I met last week with some concerned citizens, and I am interested in the ideas they have. If possible, finding some group with interest and the knowledge of how to monitor these substances would be great, but I don’t know what that looks like.
AFP: The relationship between the City Council and the School Board is not good right now. What can be done to repair the relationship?
Sam Hostetter: As with most of life, having a relationship with folks outside the business aspect is great. I know several of the current school board members, and have camped with the scouts with Adam Seipel, so we should be able to talk openly, even when our purposes are not fully aligned (as they currently are not between these two bodies). Also, I expect a bit more leadership from whomever will be the chair of the school board.
AFP: Now, to your priorities (!). What areas are you focused on for the next four years?
Sam Hostetter: Working on the steering committee for the comprehensive plan, has reminded me of the importance of managing growth. There has been a lot of growth in housing, but that has strained infrastructure (try turning left from Rosser onto Lew Dewitt at 5 on a Friday), so we need to be thoughtful about new housing plans. Economic growth is vital, yet working on the front end to ensure that businesses coming to town are going to be good neighbors – read Northrop Grumman. The balance of funding schools adequately and predictably is a challenge in a time when our population and housing stock growth have outpaced the growth in the number of students in WPS. These will be the decisions that the next council will be facing.
Oh, and let’s get the museum built. That is ultimately at the state level, but we need to keep up the campaign to do that.
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Chris Graham
