Justin Wilson (politician)

Wilson was born in Cheverly, Maryland, to a Caucasian mother and African-American father, and grew up in Washington, D.C., and Fairfax County, Virginia. He graduated from John R. Lewis High School in Springfield, Virginia, when it was named Robert E. Lee High School, and earned a bachelor's from Virginia Commonwealth University^[3]. He began in politics in the Virginia Young Democrats and was later a page for Don Beyer during Beyer's tenure as lieutenant governor of Virginia.^[4]

Wilson was elected to the Alexandria City Council in 2007 but lost his bid for re-election in 2009. He was elected to the council for a second time in the 2012 election, and was re-elected in 2015. As the council member with the highest vote total in the 2015 election, he served as vice mayor for the following council term.^[1][4]

In the 2018 Democratic mayoral primary, Wilson defeated the incumbent mayor and fellow Democrat Allison Silberberg, by a margin of 52% to 47%.^[5][6] No other candidate qualified for the November general election ballot, so Wilson ran unopposed, although write-in votes were permitted; Wilson received 93% of the votes cast.^[4]

In a rematch, Wilson defeated Allison Silberberg in the 2021 Democratic primary, 57% to 43%. Wilson defeated the Republican nominee, Annetta Catchings, in the general election, by a margin of 68% to 31%.^[7]

After leaving office as mayor, he was hired as the executive director of NOVA Parks in October 2025.^[8] Wilson left his job at Amtrak as a senior director of vendor and contract management, where he had continued to work serving in the Alexandria City government as those positions are part-time.^[3]

Wilson married Alex Crawford-Batt in 2001, three years after meeting her at a Democratic state convention while in college.^[9] They have two children.^[4][10]