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When Chesterfield voters head to the polls or fill out their absentee ballots this year, they will be voting in three statewide races: governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
In addition, all seven Virginia House of Delegates seats representing Chesterfield are up for grabs. To hear from them in their own words, the Observer invited each of the General Assembly candidates to weigh in on their top legislative priorities and the issues they believe are most important to the Richmond metropolitan region. Their responses are below.
Virginia House of Delegates
27th District
Debra Gardner
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Small business owner and retired public administrator
Website: debragardnerfordelegate.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
I am focusing on equity in COVID-19 recovery, supporting our public education, and fighting for affordable healthcare. I am committed to making child care affordable, fully funding our public schools, and making sure no one has to choose between seeing a doctor and paying their bills.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
I believe that the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region, and throughout Virginia, is the recovery from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am committed to fighting for a strong COVID-19 recovery plan that prioritizes healthcare, education and child care, and creating and filling good-paying jobs. I know that we can come out of this pandemic stronger than ever if we put people first.
Roxann Robinson – Incumbent
Party: Republican
Website: roxannrobinson.com
This candidate did not respond to multiple attempts to contact her.
62nd District
Carrie Coyner – Incumbent
Party: Republican
Current vocation: Attorney
Website: carriecoyner.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
The best education for all children – safe, nurturing schools; highly qualified teachers; and equal opportunities for every child. Attracting and retaining high-quality, good-paying jobs for everybody. Supporting safe neighborhoods and healthy families free from violence, combatting addiction, and increased access to quality and affordable physical and mental healthcare.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
COVID dealt a blow to student learning, particularly among low-income, minority, disabled and rural students. More than ever, we need to support our teachers, parents, and school leaders in getting our students back on track. As a public-school parent, former school board member, and current delegate, I have long been concerned with the education of all of Virginia’s children. I remain committed to redefining the standards of quality; high-quality teachers in every classroom; and SOL reform.
Jasmine Gore
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Regional program manager, military employment
Website: gorefordelegate.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
1) Building an opportunity economy by attracting good-paying jobs for workers and supporting businesses via trades and workforce program investments. 2) Strengthening our public schools with access to Pre-K, quality child care, and increased school funding. 3) Protecting our neighborhoods by addressing poor infrastructure, crime, public health, and the environment.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
I believe that the issues facing us today are the same concerns that have plagued communities before the pandemic. However, leaders can reshape and reimagine the government’s response to growing needs. The allocation of funding and resources equitably is the biggest issue facing the Richmond region. Equity determines several elements that impact Virginians’ quality of life, from affordable housing, access to health care, public school education, job opportunity, crime reduction, infrastructure, economic development, and more.
63rd District
Lashrecse Aird – Incumbent
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Higher education administration
Website: airdfordelegate.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
As we continue to navigate profound learning loss due to the pandemic, ensuring our students and teachers have access to critical resources in our schools continues to be my top priority. In addition, addressing economic stability for communities and their families and affordable access to healthcare are priorities to me.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Throughout the Richmond metropolitan region, access to reliable, affordable housing continues to be an issue. Families and individuals across the income spectrum are experiencing rising rents and housing costs, which have continued to outpace wages (not to mention additional financial needs many have incurred due to the pandemic). By prioritizing the creation and expansion of affordable housing, we can dramatically reduce the number of households facing economic instability in our region.
Kim Taylor
Party: Republican
Current vocation: Small business owner
Website: kimtaylorva.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
My top three priorities as your next delegate will be ensuring quality education for our children and a safe learning environment, revitalizing our economy through tax incentives and lowering regulation, and addressing public safety and infrastructure issues in our district that have been neglected for the last six years.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Public safety is the most significant issue in the Richmond metropolitan region. Our state and local police are continuing to give up law enforcement careers, as well as firefighters and correctional security officers. Our law enforcement is less proactive, which has led to a significant spike in crime and a slower response by police and EMS. We must support innovative public safety initiatives to protect our children and improve public safety.
65th District
Caitlin Coakley
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Freelance writer
Website: coakleyfordelegate.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
Protect our natural resources – expand environmental protections in Virginia to include regulations against developments that threaten water quality.
Expand social services – build on existing programs to provide for the health and welfare of our communities.
Invest in infrastructure – expand broadband access while also making updates to water and sewer infrastructure.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Small businesses and working families have made incredible sacrifices to keep our communities safe. As we rebuild from the COVID-19 crisis, we need to help those families and businesses rebuild. We must provide services to address lost income, mental health challenges, rising substance abuse, escalating domestic violence, and housing insecurity. Virginia is coming out of a crisis with a budget surplus – we must ensure those funds are spent in a way that invests in our communities.
Lee Ware – Incumbent
Party: Republican
Current vocation: Retired teacher
Website: delegateleeware.net
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
1. Ensuring local and parental control of schools for curricular, health, and safety matters.
2. Ensuring prudent stewardship of the public purse, especially as we emerge from the federal pandemic largesse.
3. Placing a 30-day limit on a governor’s emergency powers, after which any extension would have to be authorized by the General Assembly.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Because major issues are interrelated, we must eschew faddish ideologies that distort our social and political life. This means ensuring that our children are given a firm foundation in reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as in the complexities of history and the grandeur of the American experiment in ordered liberty. From this alone flows individual and family well-being, economic prosperity, public safety, and the health of the taxpayers’ purse for public services.
66th District
Mike Cherry
Party: Republican
Current vocation: Staff pastor and headmaster at Life Christian Academy
Website: mikecherryforva.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
My top three top priorities are helping our students succeed in education regardless of ZIP code, keeping our communities safe, and rebuilding our economy.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Our leaders have let our students down by keeping them out of schools and lowering standards. I believe school systems should work for and with families to help our kids succeed. That means yes, parents do get a say in what goes on in classrooms. It also means expanding school choice. As a councilman, I’ve always voted to fully fund our public schools, but we have a responsibility to make sure a child’s ZIP code doesn’t determine their quality of education. We also have to prepare our oldest students for whatever their next steps are, not just for four-year college programs.
Katie Sponsler
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Stay-at-home mom
Website: katiesponsler.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
Making sure schools are fully funded, ensuring women’s healthcare and child care are fully funded and making sure that we have clean air and water and getting rid of the landfills in district.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
The biggest issue facing the RVA metro area is accessibility to public housing and public transit to get to and from work in a safe and cheap manner.
68th District
Dawn Adams – Incumbent
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Nurse practitioner/ small business owner
Website: delegateadams.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
– Creating an infrastructure for aging in place, especially for the middle class.
– Increasing community services to address the mental health crisis experienced by children and adults.
– Addressing the workforce shortage through innovative programs and possibilities for advancement.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
As both a nurse practitioner and a delegate, I’m not sure there is a singular issue, but rather a collective need to navigate the best path forward toward a bright future while integrating and beginning to heal the grief and trauma of the past two years. This will include addressing my legislative priorities, as well as increasing the number of wraparound supports in schools and securing funding to support small business innovation.
Mark Earley Jr.
Party: Republican
Current vocation: Criminal defense attorney
Website: markearleyforva.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
I want to work for the kids and families of Virginia. Every child deserves a stable home, full stomach, and strong education. We need open schools and parents involved. We must eliminate the grocery tax. And as a foster parent, I will improve the foster care system.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
We’re struggling with three primary issues: education, jobs, and public safety.
On education, school shutdowns were incredibly difficult for families. We need to keep schools open, recover from learning loss, keep academic standards high, keep politics out of the classroom, and protect parental involvement.
On jobs, the lockdowns were brutal on small businesses. We need to support small businesses with low taxes and regulations.
Lastly, we must fight rising crime and keep our streets safe.
70th District
Delores McQuinn – Incumbent
Party: Democratic
Current vocation: Associate minister at New Bridge Baptist Church in Richmond
Website: deloresmcquinn.net
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
My top three priorities are transportation, education and climate control.
We must:
Improve our transportation infrastructure to make the region more attractive and accessible to live, work and play;
Increase teacher and school employee salaries to attract and retain qualified staff; and
Switch to renewable energy and clean transportation.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
Improving the region’s transportation infrastructure is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region. As a member of the CVTA, we allocated funding towards the design interchange improvements at I-95 and Willis Road in Chesterfield County. The ability to move more people, while utilizing less cars, is essential for improving equitable accessibility and economic stability. A viable and environmentally friendly transportation system will also attract more businesses and jobs, while creating a cleaner environment.
David Vaught
Party: Independent
Current vocation: Self-employed – Security services
Website: vaughtfordelegate.com
List your top three legislative priorities if elected:
1. Community revitalization through tax incentives for small businesses to add jobs and increase local revenues.
2. Safer communities – refocus legislative efforts from reducing penalties for crime and devaluing our police, to victims’ rights and funding and providing education to law enforcement.
3. Quality education with no political influence.
What is the biggest issue facing the Richmond metropolitan region?
High crime rates are the most pressing issue we face right now. Only about 6% of U.S. cities have a higher crime rate (neighborhoodscout.com/va/richmond/crime). This is driven primarily by a decreased workforce due to the government paying people not to work, drugs, and a broken public education system. We need to stop passing legislation that favors criminals over victims. And we absolutely MUST stop denigrating law enforcement. No cops means no safety!
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 2. For information about when and where to vote, visit chesterfield.gov/689/registrar
2021 Ballot Guide: General Assembly candidates on the issues they’ll fight for