Virginians will decide the new composition of the oldest legislative body in the country this year. The Republican-led General Assembly has a razor-thin margin in both chambers — 51-49 in the House of Delegates and 21-19 in the Senate — after the 2017 “blue wave” across the state.
But things can change quickly from one election cycle to the next, says Randolph-Macon College political science professor Rich Meagher, adding that factors such as redistricting, legislator retirements and scandals surrounding the state’s top office holders could lead to unpredictable results.
“It’s just a lot of shocks to the system,” Meagher says, “so anyone who says they know how it’s going to play out — probably doesn’t.”
In June 11 primaries and a separate nominating contest, voters in the Richmond region will choose House of Delegates candidates in Districts 62, 68 and 97, as well as Senate candidates in Districts 10, 11, 12 — and 16, where “Fightin’ Joe” Morrissey is challenging incumbent Rosalyn Dance, a fellow Democrat, in his latest political comeback attempt.
Morrissey, a former delegate and Richmond commonwealth’s attorney whose law license was revoked by the Virginia State Bar in 2018 after allegations of professional misconduct, announced his candidacy in April at an event off Jefferson Davis Highway featuring Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” as his walk-out song. The Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in his appeal of the State Bar decision on April 19.
Photos courtesy the candidates
House of Delegates
Chesterfield County budget analyst Lindsey Dougherty and Chesterfield NAACP official and Virginia Department of Health regional coordinator Tavorise Marks will compete in a primary contest for the Democratic nomination in the 62nd House District, where Chesterfield School Board member Carrie Coyner is running as a Republican in hopes of replacing the retiring Riley Ingram.
In the November election, Dawn Adams, the Democratic incumbent in the 68th House District, will oppose one of two Republicans running in the primary: Garrison Coward, chief operating officer of the data analytics firm BizCents, and Lori Losi, a certified public accountant and former business owner.
In the 97th House District, incumbent Chris Peace faces a challenge from fellow Republican Scott Wyatt, a member of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors. The 97th Legislative District Committee canceled initial plans for a May 4 nominating convention, opting instead for a canvass, or firehouse primary, on June 1, a move opposed by the committee's chairman. Wyatt's campaign manager, Tanner Bonovitch, says the convention will take place at Atlee High School on May 4, starting at 10:30 a.m., with voting by delegates selected in mass meetings. However, Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jack Wilson sent a message to party activists saying that the convention "will be a Scott Wyatt event, not a party-sanctioned election." (May 4 update: Wyatt claimed victory at the convention, but Peace, in a Facebook post, called it a "pretend convention.")
Meagher says that the Peace race exemplifies the “between a rock and a hard place” dilemma the Republican Party has grappled with in Virginia recently. “They kind of have to thread the needle between reaching out to moderate and Democratic voters in a state that's going more Democratic” while not alienating the President Trump-supporting party base, he explains.
Photos courtesy of the candidates and by Jay Paul
Virginia Senate
Republican Glen Sturtevant, a former Richmond School Board member, will take on one of three Democrats competing in the primary for the 10th District Senate seat: lawyer Eileen Beddell, who ran against former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat in 2014, law student Zachary Brown or college professor and administrator Ghazala Hashmi.
Two Democrats, nonprofit professional Amanda Pohl and attorney and former Army Col. Wayne Powell, are running in the primary in an effort to unseat Chesterfield Republican Amanda Chase in the 11th Senate District.
In the 12th District, incumbent Republican Siobhan Dunnavant will be opposed by either immigration attorney Veena Gupta Lothe or Debra Rodman, a Democrat who won election to the 73rd House District in 2017.
Meagher sees the Rodman move as a strategic effort by Democrats to gain a seat in the Senate.
“If you don't have a kind of power base from having already won an election … it's really hard to just come out of nowhere, raise enough money, build a network and win.”
