Local Elections on Tuesday
In addition the well publicized statewide races, 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up for grabs. Unlike most states Virginia elects its legislators in odd years. Seven of the incumbents in the 12 districts of the metropolitan Richmond area have challengers. Five sitting members of the House are running unopposed.
There is also a special election in Richmond’s 7th District to fill the City Council seat left open by Delores McQuinn, when she was elected to the House of Delegates earlier this year. The seat is currently held by Betty Squire, who was appointed upon McQuinn’s departure and is not in the race. The winner of the special election will serve out what would have been the remaining three years of McQuinn’s term (2008-12).
Six candidates are in this race. They are: Ronald Bond, Clarence Kenney, Deanna Lewis, Cynthia Newbille, Garry Powell and Robin Robinson.
With no incumbent in the running, Newbille has been cast as the front-runner, due in great part to her endorsements by McQuinn and state Sen. Henry Marsh.
As the controversial Echo Harbour project would be in the district, it is considered to be a key issue. Newbille has taken neither a thumbs-up or thumbs-down position on the proposed development. Bond and Kenney haven’t come down clearly on either side, either. That, while Lewis, Powell and Robinson are openly opposed to the high-rise hotel and condominium project, which -- if approved by City Council -- would be built on the riverfront below Libby Hill Park.
The metro area House of Delegates contests are:
District 65 includes parts of Chesterfield County and Powhatan County. The incumbent is R. Lee Ware Jr., a Republican. His challenger is Gary R. Reinhardt, an Independent.
Ware, 57, was first elected to his seat in 1998. He is a history teacher who lives in Powhatan.
Reinhardt is a 43-year-old attorney. He lives in Midlothian. He has not served in public office before.
District 68 includes parts of Chesterfield County and Richmond. The incumbent is G. Manoli Loupassi, a Republican. His challenger is William K. “Bill” Grogan, an Independent.
Loupassi, 42, has served one term representing the 68th. Prior to that he was a member of Richmond’s City Council. He is an attorney.
Grogan, an attorney, ran as an Independent against Loupassi in 2007; Grogan received less the four percent of the vote.
District 69 includes parts of Chesterfield County and Richmond. There is no incumbent (Frank Hall retired April 14, 2009). The three candidates are: Betsy B. Carr, a Democrat; L. Shirley Harvey, an Independent; Ernesto V. Sampson Jr., a Republican.
Carr is an Outreach Director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and a member of Richmond’s School Board. She lives in the Fan District.
Harvey, publisher of Richmond Radiant Light, lost in her run against Hall in 2005. Similarly, she has run for office several times. Harvey served one term on Richmond’s City Council (1994-96).
Sampson, 33, is a Virginia Military Institute product and a financial adviser. He has not held public office before.
District 70 includes parts of Chesterfield County, Henrico County and Richmond. The incumbent is Delores L. McQuinn. Her challenger is Henry Otis Brown, an Independent.
McQuinn took office in 2009. She served on Richmond’s City Council for 10 years before winning what had been Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones’ seat in the House.
Brown, 59, is an attorney with a practice in Petersburg.
District 71 includes parts of Henrico County and Richmond. The incumbent is Jennifer L. McClellan. Her challenger is Silver Persinger, an Independent.
McClellan, 38, is an attorney. She’s seeking her third term in office.
Persinger, 38, is the publisher of the Richmond City Council Reporter and Telegraph web site. He has run for public office twice before, losing both times.
District 73 includes parts of Henrico County and Richmond. The incumbent is John M. O'Bannon III, a Republican. His challenger is Tom J. Shields, a Democrat.
O’Bannon, 61, was first elected to his seat in 2000. He is a neurologist who lives in Henrico County.
Shields is administrator of a leadership program at the University of Richmond.
District 74 includes parts of Henrico County, Charles City County, Hopewell, Price George County and Richmond. The incumbent is Joseph D. Morrissey, a Democrat. His challenger is Michael A. “Mike” Gage, a Republican.
Stemming from his time as Richmond’s top prosecutor, his high-profile law practice and then his own legal battles (which include his disbarment), Morrissey is a well known figure in Richmond. He has served one term in House.
Gage, 33, a baker, is the owner of MAGpieCreations.
There are no challengers in the following districts in the metro area (incumbents in parenthesis): District 27 (Samuel A. “Sam” Nixon Jr.); District 62 (Riley Edward Ingram); District 63 (Rosalyn R. Dance); District 66 (M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox); District 72 (James P. Massie Jr.).
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