This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
In an announcement that sent shockwaves throughout Manassas, Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger said Monday she will be stepping down at the close of 2026, two years before her term ends.
Speaking during Monday’s City Council meeting, Davis-Younger underscored her belief in term limits and, in this case, “self-imposed term limits.”
“Term limits are not a concession of weakness or being a quitter,” the mayor said. “They are of faith – faith that the people coming behind us are ready. The institutions we serve are bigger than the individuals who serve them.”
Elaborating in a statement to InsideNoVa, Davis-Younger said, “When I initially said I would run, I was committed to two terms, which is eight years. I said in the beginning that I would serve eight years and just happened to get split between council and mayor. So it’s always been there that I would serve eight years.”
Davis-Younger, a Democrat and Manassas native, was first elected to the mayor’s seat in 2020 after being elected to council in 2018. She was the first Black woman elected to a seat on council as well as to the mayorship. She’s also the city’s first Democratic mayor.
She won reelection in 2024 over Republican Xiao-Yin “Tang” Byrom by nearly 15 percentage points, or over 2,100 votes out of 15,424 cast.
Manassas’ mayor only votes in the case of a tie among the six-member City Council.
In her private work, Davis-Younger owns and operates The1ForHR, LLC, a human resources consulting firm in Manassas.
Speaking of her legacy, the mayor said she believes she “has raised the visibility of this city to levels that it had never seen.”
“That’s always been my intention: to make sure Manassas had a seat at the table everywhere I went, and that’s what I set out to do, and I believe I accomplished that,” she said. “Every budget we balanced, every difficult decision, conversation we had the courage to hold in public rather than avoid in private. That was a collective effort, and collective effort does not end when one person leaves the room. It will be sustained by the next generation of leaders.”
During Davis-Younger’s tenure, the city embarked on several high-dollar economic redevelopment projects, including the purchase and redevelopment of the Olde Towne Inn site and the Manassas Shopping Center, for $5.75 million and roughly $17 million, respectively. The city-owned Manassas Regional Airport is also in the process of transforming into a commercial outfit, with flights expected to begin next year.
Upon a mayoral vacancy, the City Council would have to petition the Circuit Court for a special election to fill the remainder of her term, which runs through 2028. The council could also appoint someone to serve as a mayor until a special election is called.
Colleagues surprised
The mayor’s announcement came as a surprise to her City Council colleagues.
“It’s sad and a big loss,” Councilmember Sonia Vasquez Luna told InsideNoVa. “I’m still trying to understand and digest it, but I know how the politics in the city are and how hard it is to be able to serve, you know, and sometimes politics are put before the person.”
Vasquez Luna said while she respects the decision, the departure leaves uncertainty about the city’s direction moving forward.
“I understand, and I’m happy for her because she has reached all the goals that she wanted. But when it comes to the future and the leadership, it’s a difficult moment,” she said.
Councilmember Tom Osina said his “initial reaction … was most definitely a surprise that she would be stepping down at the end of 2026.”
“She’s been the mayor ever since I’ve been on council,” Osina said. “She’s been my mayor.”
He praised the work she’s done at the city’s helm.
“She … highlighted the variety of different things that may not have always gotten the attention that other things get in our city,” he said. “We are a pretty diverse city … and as our mayor, she certainly did a lot of those sorts of things.”
Osina said he is optimistic about the next chapter.
“Our city is blessed with many people who could serve as mayor,” he said. “December is a long time away and there’s a lot of other things going on in the city. It’s important for this council … to be focused on what we have to do between now and then.”
Davis-Younger did not discuss future political runs, and she said she intends to remain a Manassas resident.
“Between now and Dec. 31, I will govern with the same urgency I brought to my first day,” she said. “There are commitments to honor, projects to complete, and a city that deserves a leader who is fully present until the last day of service. I do not intend to coast.”
