Alexandria Mayor Accuses Challenger Of Not Being 'Team Player'

Candidates for mayor of Alexandria, Va. are making their final pitch to voters as Election Day approaches.

Facing his first challenge since 2003, three-term incumbent Democrat Bill Euille is going on the offensive against independent challenger Andrew Macdonald. During a candidates forum this week, Euille said Macdonald, a former vice mayor, was too independent and not a team player.

"He even characterizes himself and his campaign that he once said he would be an independent voice," said Euille. "Well that's fine, but to be the mayor of the city, you can't be an independent. You have to be a person that is a team player."

Macdonald shot back that he didn't want to be a team player.

"I would argue that the team was certain members of City Council who had a very rigid strict sort of agenda that they were working on with developers on all sorts of things," said Macdonald. "And I didn't agree with it. So in that sense, I was not a team player."

For many years, elections for mayor in Alexandria were in May, but after the Democrats lost two seats in May, the lame duck members of the previous city council moved the election to November, when record number of voters are expected at the polls.