Copyright Baltimore Sun
William Cunha first thought about running for City Council when he was working on renovating his Annapolis home. Cunha said it took about 4 1/2 months to get the permits needed, after purchasing the property in July 2023. “I was talking to someone with the city who was inspecting it, and I said, ‘This process is broken,’ and they agreed with me,” Cunha said. “So I said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll run for alderman and try and fix it.’” Cunha, who will be 37 on Election Day and owns Oscar’s Coffee, is running as an independent against Democrat Frank Thorp, a former president of the U.S. Navy Memorial, to represent Ward 8 in the Annapolis City Council. The ward’s current alderman, Democrat Ross Arnett, who was first elected in 2007, decided not to seek another term. Cunha grew up in Tennessee and went to the University of Missouri for one year before moving to Annapolis to attend the Naval Academy, he said. After graduation, he said, he served as a surface warfare officer in the Navy. https://www.capitalgazette.com/2025/10/28/annapolis-voter-guide-2025-mayor-and-city-council-races/embed/ He then went to graduate school for cybersecurity at Carnegie Mellon University, he said. Cunha says he did cybersecurity work for the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Treasury Department before going into the private sector, where he currently works. Cunha opened Oscar’s Coffee with his husband, Garrett Harper, in June 2023. The dog-themed coffee shop is built out of a 1972 Shasta trailer. “Oscar’s has become not only a place where you can get a good cup of coffee, but a place where you can chat with your neighbors, meet new neighbors, and dogs can come down to relax,” Cunha said. “I’ve created a sense of community.” Since moving to Annapolis, Cunha said he has experienced firsthand and heard from people in his communities frustrations about basic city expectations not being met. On the campaign trail, Cunha has kept a public log on his website of 139 issues people have told him they have with the city. Most of the issues fall under pedestrian and traffic safety, while the other top categories are crime and housing affordability. “These are not big things,” Cunha said. “These are basic things that a city should be providing its residents.” His policy priorities are improving public safety, boosting local government accountability and supporting local businesses. Cunha said local business owners like himself would benefit from the city providing clear requirements needed to open, such as permits and licenses. To solve this, Cunha said he wants the city to organize entrepreneurial hubs or neighborhood advocates to serve as points of contact to teach new business owners what they need to do. Under his priority to hold the city accountable, Cunha said the city needs to better control property taxes, be more intentional about spending taxpayer money, and take a holistic look at improving core services for residents. The candidate said the city government also needs to use the studies it spends money on to improve the city. He pointed to a 2016 traffic study in Eastport that he said hasn’t been used to make needed improvements to sidewalks and intersections. In the public safety sector, Cunha said he wants to help the city better provide opportunities for groups most affected by violent crime and improve response times from the police department. Eric Rowland, a Ward 8 resident, met Cunha because his daughter works at Oscar’s Coffee. After hearing good things from his daughter, Rowland decided to volunteer on Cunha’s campaign for alderman by helping to organize door-knocking efforts. Cunha, Rowland said, will work to give a voice to Ward 8 residents who have been overlooked, and get things done. The candidate said he is running as an independent because “partisanship doesn’t belong in city politics,” because he believes partisanship take focus away from the residents and businesses. Thorp, when asked, said what differentiates him from Cunha is Thorp’s experience in community leadership positions and his availability to focus on council duties. Cunha, when asked the same question, pointed to himself being able to bring a new perspective to Eastport. The current alderman salary is about $18,500, but the current City Council has raised alderman salaries to $32,000, starting for the next council. Cunha’s campaign has raised $7,878 as of Oct. 5. Have a news tip? Contact Katharine Wilson at kwilson@baltsun.com. Voter guide Go to capitalgazette.com to read more candidate profiles and to view a voter guide.
