Retired Temple Emanuel Rabbi Kathy Cohen is running for Roanoke City Council, saying its recent decision to reduce school funding drove her decision.

“If we do not have the strongest public schools, we do not have the strongest city,” Cohen said, adding that she was “disturbed and upset by the tremendous cut.”

The council voted in January to drop the local revenue percentage available to the schools from a possible 40 percent to 34 percent annually. There are other triggers in the new policy that require even deeper cuts should revenue not perform as expected.

Cohen said she understands budget realities, but if elected, her goal would be to “ease” what she considers a harsh reduction to the schools.

Cohen, who is running as an independent, is the second candidate in the field for three seats. Incumbent Peter Volosin, a Democrat, said late last year that he will seek a second term.

Evelyn Powers, an independent appointed to the council in 2025 to fill an empty seat, said this month that she does not plan to run.

And the third incumbent who would be on this year’s ballot, Democrat Vivian Sanchez-Jones, wrote in a recent email that she’s not yet decided if she’ll seek reelection.

Cohen will run as an independent in a city that historically elects Democrats — and the main competition is often that party’s council primary. Nick Hagen, in fact, became the first Republican elected to the council in more than two decades in 2024. He finished third in a race for three seats, behind Democrats Terry McGuire and Phazhon Nash. Powers, who ran as an independent in that race, finished fourth.

Cohen said she spent time researching the matter before deciding to run.

She was swayed by the fact that most Virginia cities do not have party-based council elections, eliminating the cost of separate primaries and making the process more open and fairer, she said.

“I really feel like on a city level that party politics should never come into thinking and decision-making,” Cohen said.

Another of her campaign issues will be economic viability, particularly to help those who struggle to make ends meet.

She said the city needs to “stimulate economic development.”

And that delves into another polarizing city issue: a proposed entertainment district to include a casino at a remade Berglund Center, which a council majority believes could provide a substantial amount of needed revenue.

Asked her opinion of that, Cohen said she’d like to see a study done of numerous options to improve the civic center — but she does not believe a casino is the answer.

Cohen also said she has an issue with the council signing non-disclosure agreements over the casino.

She said if an NDA was only about not disclosing the name of a casino company, then she can see the relevance. However, she said she does not agree with an NDA when it prevents the public from getting information in a timely manner, such as money changing hands and project specifics.

Cohen, who retired in June and is Temple Emanuel’s Rabbi Emerita, serves on the city’s Gun Violence Prevention Commission. She is planning a campaign launch event for March 1, she said.

More candidates are expected to announce campaigns in the coming weeks in a year when the city’s fiscal issues will be a focus.

Casino opponent and former mayor David Bowers, whose name has been on almost every council election ballot since last leaving office in 2016, said he plans to run again this year. Bowers has been elected over the years as a Democrat and an independent. He then ran as a Republican for mayor in 2024, losing by 29 votes after a recount to Democrat Joe Cobb.

Bowers, in an email, wrote there is a chance an independent “For the City” type of ticket could form this year, and he could be part of that.

Cohen said she is not currently part of such a potential group but is also not ruling out opportunities that could emerge.

Similar efforts have formed in the past, most recently when Gwen Mason, David Trinkle and Alfred Dowe swept the 2006 election as part of the independent "For the City" ticket. The group of "independent Democrats" was sponsored by then-Mayor Nelson Harris in an attempt to build a stable council majority and to seal a decision to tear down Victory Stadium.

The filing deadline for city council primary candidates is April 2 at 5 p.m. Independent candidates have a deadline of 7 p.m. on June 16. 

Any council primary was also scheduled for June 16. However, the General Assembly’s plan to hold a statewide congressional redistricting referendum on April 21 would change that. Upon final action by the legislature, the 2026 primary date will move to Aug. 4 and any primary elections for city council would be held on that date, according to city Registrar Nicholas Ocampo. The move of the primary date will not extend the council candidate filing deadlines, Ocampo confirmed.

The general election is Nov. 3.