Virginia’s Democratic primary is June 20 and early voting has already started. This is critical because Virginia is a bellwether state for next year’s elections. Virginia has elections in off-years because … well, racism, but that’s a story for another time. Thankfully, Virginia has grown very diverse over the years. In 2000, 70% of the residents identified as white. Today, thanks to population growth of people of color, they are now only 58% of the population.
The Old Dominion has been leaning more and more Democratic since 2009, yet suffered a setback in 2021 with the election of Republican Glenn Youngkin and control of the House of Delegates flipping to the GOP. Using fearmongering about COVID-19 mandates and critical race theory, Youngkin managed to build a coalition of Trumpers and right-leaning moderates to eke out a small but crucial victory.
Since that time, however, voters have realized Youngkin never had a real education plan outside of the race-baiting attack on critical race theory, and instead focused on coming after women’s and pregnant people’s bodily autonomy. Youngkin hopes to gain full control of the Virginia legislature this year for his presidential ambition. If the GOP holds their House seats and flips the Senate, you will witness a Ron DeSantis-like transformation of the governor. It is critical that Democrats don’t allow the GOP to seize power. It would be even better if Democrats could take back control.
RELATED STORY: Virginia’s GOP governor just revived a Jim Crow voting law designed to target Black voters
I will go over a few races to watch this year, and although I support almost all of the Democratic incumbent legislative candidates, there’s one strong exception that needs to be made. Joe Morrissey is the current Democratic state senator for District 13.
This is a solid Democratic district that is majority Black. Morrissey should be a progressive, or at least a moderate Democrat. Instead, he might as well be a Republican, because he sure acts like it.
His cohort in the legislature is the gun-toting Marjorie Taylor Greene-wannabe, Amanda Chase. She calls herself “Trump in heels,” yet Morrissey worked with her to co-sponsor an abortion ban in 2022. Morrissey voted against the Reproductive Health Protection Act (RHPA) in 2020 and supports bogus Republican restrictions such as “a mandatory 24-hour delay, forced ultrasound, and targeted restrictions on abortion providers,” as called out by Planned Parenthood. In case his anti-choice position wasn’t clear enough, this year, when given the opportunity to protect reproductive freedom, he was the only Democratic senator to not support a constitutional amendment to do just that.
Morrissey uses his religion as an excuse to oppose abortion because he claims to be a devout Catholic. This would be a little bit easier to handle if he didn’t spend several months in jail for pleading guilty to having sex with his then 17-year-old secretary. He was still married at the time to his long-suffering wife, and then left her for the teenager.
Morrissey not only bragged to his friends about having sex with his secretary, he also paid her $70 for the morning-after pill, according to graphic texts submitted in the plea agreement. As if that wasn’t enough, another woman, Kanika Shani Morris, claims he exposed himself to her in his law office after pressuring her for sex. Morrissey denied this but couldn’t deny the explicit text messages he sent to her. He claimed they were just “flirtatious.”
Besides being a creep, Morrissey has amassed quite a track record: As an attorney, he was cited for contempt of court 10 times. He has been jailed or arrested five times. Twice he has had his law license suspended. I can’t lecture Republicans on supporting a man with dubious morals and being a serial sexual abuser if I don’t have the same standards for officials within my own party. I can honestly say that if Morrissey was the Democratic option and I lived in this district, I would vote third-party.
Luckily, he has an opponent in the primary that can restore honor to the position. Her name is Lashrecse Aird. She has a solid progressive track record while serving in Virginia’s House of Delegates: she has successfully fought to provide more funding for schools, pushed to make the criminal justice system fairer, and is staunchly pro-choice.
How anyone could pick Morrissey over someone like her is beyond me. If you live in this district, please make the right choice, which in this case, is the left choice.
13TH senate District
Democrat Lashrecse Aird
And Daily Kos has endorsed her as well.
Lashrecse Aird campaign website
These are some of the other critical races that will make a difference in this fast-coming election. Virginia has no campaign finance laws so you can donate up through the election. Winning here is important going into the federal election in 2024.
RELATED STORY: We need to boot an anti-choice Virginia Democrat—and we have a fantastic alternative
Other VA State Senate Races
16th Senate District
Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg
This is a district outside of Richmond that used to be dark red but has been trending Democratic ever since Obama carried it in 2008. Biden won the district in 2020, and Youngkin’s Democratic opponent carried it back in 2021.
The Republican incumbent, Siobhan Dunnavant, is way too right-wing for this district. She was a member of a racist Facebook group until she got called out on it. Unsurprisingly, she was also a staunch defender of the Confederacy: she tried to ban local governments from removing Confederate statues and voted against ending a Confederate holiday.
The only Democrat running is VanValkenburg, who is a former teacher and House of Delegate member with a strong progressive track record. Instead of fighting for Confederate statues, he was actually doing things to benefit his constituents.
One of my favorite things that he did as delegate was make a law that banned noncompete clauses for low-wage workers, which was praised by President Biden. He did this after he learned about a hairdresser who was forced to leave the state just because she left her job. Sandwich-makers, gym trainers, baristas, and even arborists who wanted to change jobs for better pay or hours were subjected to employment contracts that forbade them from working for competitors due to “trade secrets.” In reality, it was to keep them from getting pay increases.
Schuyler VanValkenburg campaign website
24th Senate District
DEMOCRAT MONTY MASON (Incumbent)
This Hampton Roads district is a lot redder than others, yet Democratic state Sen. Monty Mason managed to beat out well-funded challengers to become the incumbent. It’s worth noting this was before redistricting made it more conservative. Biden carried this district in 2020, before it reverted red again after Youngkin’s victory. In other words, this is a true battleground district.
His legislative achievements have showcased his priorities. He pushed legislation to improve Virginia’s foster care system that provided families with greater access to mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and parenting skills courses. He was pivotal in the expansion of offshore wind turbines in Hampton Roads, which brought jobs and businesses to the area. The Republican opponent is a former local sheriff, Danny Diggs, and the GOP would love to flip this seat.
17th Senate District
Democrat Clint Jenkins
This district is an open seat and free-for-all. This is also another case where Biden won in 2020 and Youngkin in 2021. Democratic Del. Clint Jenkins is the only candidate. He’s a veteran, a local businessman, and won his seat as delegate in 2019. The Republicans are fighting it out between GOP delegate Emily Brewer and a former NASCAR driver, Hermie Sadler.
VA House of Delegates Races
21st House District
Josh Thomas
This is a blue northern Virginia district in Prince William County. Biden won easily in 2020, but Youngkin barely squeaked a victory. There’s one Democrat, Josh Thomas, who’s a Marine veteran and lawyer.
The Republicans have a fight between local Board of Supervisors member John Stirrup and another Marine veteran, Josh Quill, and I do mean this is a fight. It’s gotten nasty, as Quill is complaining that Stirrup is using these mailers to falsely imply Youngkin’s endorsement. Youngkin later did actually endorse Stirrup.
22nd House District
Travis Nembhard
This is also in Prince William County, but redder than House District 21. Nonetheless, Biden won a little bit more than half the vote in 2020. However, Youngkin won it back for the red team in 2021 with 53% of the vote. This is another race where there’s just one Democratic candidate running, Travis Nembhard. He is an attorney, a former financial regulator, and a former administrative law judge. The likely, and only, GOP candidate is going to be former Manassas City Council member Ian Lovejoy. This will be Lovejoy’s second attempt at office.
Travis Nembhard campaign website
65th House District
Joshua Cole
North of Fredericksburg is the 65th House District. Biden won here with 55%, but yet again, Youngkin won it back with 51%. The Democrats are going with former Del. Josh Cole, who won this seat once before when it was the 28th House District. He is also a pastor and is the president of the Stafford County NAACP. Cole is openly bisexual, and has support from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ candidates.
The GOP is likely going to go with a captain in the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department, Lee Peters.
71th House District
Democrat Jessica Anderson
Jessica Anderson is a fascinating candidate because she had initially been ignored by the Democratic establishment. She was a political novice without any large donors to back her up. Yet things changed after she showed how much money she could raise as an influencer. She is certainly a threat to the GOP and has even gotten the attention of Gov. Youngkin. Her TikTok videos initially were just about motherhood and running, yet she took a turn two years ago into politics and has a large following as a result. I asked how she made the shift into politics.
“It was a combination of things,” she told me. “My oldest daughter came out as bisexual, which opened my eyes to other perspectives. It was the hardship of working in the school system. Then January 6th happened, which was the first day I spoke out.”
Anderson has leveraged her platform using hundreds of small donors, with the average donation being $26. Her Republican incumbent opponent, Amanda Batten, goes the more traditional route of taking large corporate donations. In fact, Batten’s largest contributor is her district’s monopolistic energy corporation, Dominion Energy, whom she serves well.
And while Anderson has worked for years for a public school, Batten’s record on education has been dismal. She has voted to take money away from traditional public schools to fund alternatives, as well as against collective bargaining rights for teachers. (Although Batten’s campaign recently bought 1,000 doughnuts for teachers to try to make up for it.)
Batten’s track record on gun safety is just appalling, as she voted against every common-sense measure to include red flag laws and background checks. Her many anti-choice abortion votes are no better. She always votes along the lines of her MAGA colleagues, but given this is a swing district, is smart enough not to use culture war rhetoric in order to sound more moderate.
I urge you to support Anderson in her race for delegate. She truly is running a grassroots campaign that is taking on a powerful Republican backed by corporate interests. This is personal for me because this is the district that I grew up in. I’d very much like my friends and family to be represented by someone who has their interests at heart for a change.
Jessica Anderson campaign website
97th House District
Michael Feggans
In Virginia Beach, we have Republican Del. Karen Greenhalgh, who’s trying to hold onto the 97th District. Once again, Biden won here in 2020, and Youngkin won in 2021. There’s no primary on either side. Greenhalgh’s Democratic opponent is an Air Force veteran and tech entrepreneur, Michael Feggans.
Karen Greenhalgh’s previous opponent, who was also a Black man, was targeted with several blatantly racist political mailers. Greenhalgh also used to work at one of those fake crisis pregnancy centers that spread misinformation to women seeking abortions.
Greenhalgh won her last election by the barest of margins: only 115 votes. This race will be a barnburner this year.
Michael Feggans campaign website
Finally, I want to give a shout-out to Cat Porterfield, who is running in the 99th House District. She is a longtime member of the Daily Kos community who has exposed a lot of political dirty laundry in Virginia, such as the Clean Virginia scandal or the fact that a shameful Democratic chair is trying to cede a district race to the Republican candidate. She’s making a go of it in what has been a traditionally red area, and I would like to see us have her back.
Since Virginia’s state elections are always held the year prior to midterm and presidential elections, they are often seen as the harbinger of the national elections. Virginia had made so much progress under the two years of complete Democratic control with voting rights, health care, gun safety, workers’ rights, civil rights, education, and the environment. It’s disappointing that the state has regressed in the short time under Youngkin. Thankfully, due to Democratic control of the Senate, the damage has been minimal. However, all of that is threatened if Democrats lose the state Legislature this year.
If Virginians wants to see their potential future under the GOP, they need to look no further than my daily living nightmare in Florida. Don’t let this be your future.
Early voting for the primary runs through June 17, with primary election day on June 20. The General Election for Virginia is Nov, 7, 2023, but early voting starts Sept. 22, 2023.
RELATED STORY: The most important races this fall are in Virginia
