Hopewell City Councilor Dominic Holloway, facing both political and legal backlash over GoFundMe account spending and questionable use of a city credit card, abruptly resigned his seat Tuesday night.
Holloway, who represented Ward 7 on council for the past two years, announced his intention to step down before Tuesday’s council meeting. He said he would submit his official letter soon.
He then left the meeting when council went into closed session and as of Wednesday morning had not made any more public comment or submitted the resignation letter.
Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway announced his intent to resign his seat at a meeting of Hopewell City Council April 22, 2025.
Once the resignation is official, council may appoint someone to fill the seat on an interim basis. That person would serve until the next scheduled election for the seat in November 2026.
Holloway had not attended several recent council meetings.
Holloway is scheduled to go to trial July 29 in Charles City County Circuit Court on his embezzlement indictment. The case was moved to Charles City after Hopewell’s commonwealth’s attorney and its judges recused themselves from the prosecution.
He is charged with spending roughly $700 on catering for a June 2023 event that he claimed was sponsored by the city, but Hopewell officials said they knew nothing about the event. Prosecutors allege Holloway used the catering for a private dinner after a funeral for a family member over which he officiated.
The indictment came after The Progress-Index reported on the use of the city-owned credit card.
New Chester bakery sells macarons, sourdough bread, sweet rolls, pastries, coffee, more
Holloway was also successfully sued by the mother of a Hopewell murder victim for whom he set up a GoFundMe account to help with funeral expenses. He reportedly spent $5,600 of the funds for his own personal use, according to the civil lawsuit.
In a separate action, the city of Hopewell garnished Holloway’s council salary after he reportedly spent more than $1,200 on the city credit card for a trip to Atlanta to attend a conference, then was unable to cancel the trip in time for a full refund. The city claimed Holloway made the reservations with the knowledge he could not leave the state as a condition of his indictment and only tried to cancel after the city found out about it.
Holloway was also known for making controversial statements during council meetings.
At one last January, he claimed a Black council colleague referred to himself as an “Uncle Tom” for siding with white councilors in ending a lawsuit brought by a city employee who challenged the authenticity of a quickly passed ordinance blocking municipal workers from serving on City Council. That employee, Hopewell Fire Battalion Chief Ronnie Ellis, ran for and won the Ward 4 seat last November.
Then at a meeting last month, Holloway criticized Mayor Johnny Partin Jr. for suggesting that council slash its travel fund allotments in order to put more revenue back into the city budget. Holloway said he could not support that because, unlike Partin, he does “not come from a rich family.”
Chester: New European-style bakery uses high quality, clean ingredients: View gallery
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell Councilor Dominic Holloway will step down from seat