Looks like Linwood blinked. 

Linwood Branch, that is, the hand-picked successor of the former mayor of Virginia Beach.

(As if anyone in politics should anoint an heir. Don’t get me started on this level of arrogance.)

On Tuesday, Branch, a former member of city council who was once described by Pilot metro columnist Dave Addis as a “goat boy" for local developers, announced that he was quitting the mayor’s race. He said it was because he was unaware when he got into it that two sitting city councilmen would also be running.

That’s odd. Because Branch was the last to file his paperwork. Surely he noticed who’d jumped in ahead of him.

Whatever. We’re so used to gibberish from local politicians that this hardly registers.

Let’s be honest, there was no way the well-connected developers in town wanted both Branch and Ben Davenport in the race. These two would be feeding from the same trough, splitting votes and would likely hand the mayoral seat to good government candidate Bobby Dyer.

Should that happen, the all-you-can-eat-taxpayer-funded buffet could shut down and developers might have to start paying for their own projects.

The horror of it all.

Don’t believe me? Keep an eye on the financial filings for the various campaigns. Especially as we get close to November. 

See who’s getting the developer dough. And who isn’t.

Then vote accordingly.