Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 820
Portsmouth, VA 23705
Term Expires: December 31, 2024
De’Andre Barnes, a native of Portsmouth, attended
Portsmouth Public Schools and currently has three children who attend
Portsmouth Public Schools.
After graduating from Virginia State
University, De’Andre devoted himself to the Portsmouth community, especially
those living in low-income neighborhood. De’Andre worked countless hours with
students, parents, community leaders, and more to ensure his kids had the
resources they needed to succeed. Through his accomplishments in the community,
De’Andre learned what it’s going to take to turn around Portsmouth’s schools
and give kids a truly high-quality education.
Today, De’Andre runs a successful nonprofit
organization, known as the Portsmouth City Sports Club, Incorporated. The
nonprofit has been running for nearly 7 years now. The Portsmouth
City Sports Club has served more than 4,000 children through various
programs. The club also has very strong links to its local
community. This coupled with De’Andre’s service on many boards of
Portsmouth, Virginia shows his belief in the power of bringing communities
together to resolve conflicts and to make progress. De’Andre was elected on
November 6th, 2018 as the youngest
ever to the Portsmouth School Board. On November 3rd, 2020, he was
elected as the youngest ever to the Portsmouth City Council where he received
more votes than any other council candidate in the race. On January 4th,
2021, De’Andre was voted in as the youngest ever Vice Mayor for the city of
Portsmouth, by his peers.
De’Andre was raised in Portsmouth, Virginia by his
grandmother, Florence Artis, parents, Janice Barnes and Benny Harvie an Army
veteran. At an early age, his parents instilled in him the
importance of public service and a good education. Those values are
the foundation upon which De’Andre serves today. De’Andre grew up in
Dale Homes. He graduated from the Historic, I.C. Norcom High School,
and went on to graduate from Virginia State University with a Bachelor’s in
Political Science and a Master’s in Urban Affairs from Norfolk State
University.
While attending Norfolk State, De’Andre
started off as an intern for Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, who is only
the 2nd African American
Congressman to be elected to Congress from Virginia. After a year
with Congressman Scott, De’Andre became a Legislative Assistant where he worked
under that title for almost six years. He left Congressman Scott
office in 2015 to come back to Portsmouth to serve as a Youth Service
Coordinator with Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.