Network NOVA in Virginia Beach: Black Leaders Highlighted
Network NOVA in Virginia Beach: Black Leaders Highlighted
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — There are 48 days until Election Day, November 8, 2022. With early voting beginning in Virginia this Friday, September 23rd Network NOVA held part of their annual Women’s Summit in Virginia Beach this weekend on September 17.
Network NOVA is a left-leaning political engagement organization that centers women and hosts the annual Women’s Summit — typically in Northern Virginia. This weekend, Network NOVA leaders Katherine White, Finale Norton and Stair Calhoun took the show on the road to Virginia Beach. They started on Sept. 16 with their weekly show, The Friday Power Lunch.
HIPPEN, HAWKINS, FEGGANS INTERVIEWED. The featured discussion included (at 28 minutes) two candidates running in 2023 for Virginia’s House of Delegates. Susan Hippen is running for the House of Delegates in district 96 and Mike Feggans is running for the House of Delegates in district 97. Hippen is a retired Navy Master Chief and Feggans is retired from the Air Force after a 20 year stint.
The segment also featured Maurice Hawkins, an energetic Virginia Beach veteran operative who, along with Hippen and Feggans, have been knocking doors and organizing for Democrats in support of Elaine Luria with other Virginia Beach Democrats.
Hippen spoke on the value of lived experience during the interview saying, “abortion and child births have been in my family along with being stopped for being the wrong color for where I live. That includes Virginia Beach. That includes the suburbs of Philadelphia… these are not just lines for me these are things that I have lived.”
Hawkins spoke about Virginia Beach being a bellwether location in Virginia. Because it’s close to the D.C. media market and the home of many in the consultant class, Fairfax County and Arlington win most of the attention from Democrats each year. But many talking heads forget that Virginia Beach is Virginia’s largest city with a population of over 450,000.
“So goes Virginia Beach so goes Virginia,” Hawkins said. “In 2020, when Joe Biden won the city of Virginia Beach, he won the Commonwealth of Virginia and became president of the United States.
Conversely, when Glenn Youngkin won the city of Virginia Beach last year, he became Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Hawkins continued.
“This was after many years of Democrats dominating the governor's mansion. We saw remendous gains both in the House and the Senate. Now we’ve lost the governor's mansion. We're in the minority in the General Assembly and we hold it on to a wing-and-a-prayer in the Senate,” he added.
Northam also won Virginia Beach in 2017 as he won the Governor’s mansion. In 2020. Joe Biden won Virginia Beach and it was the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won the city since 1964. In 2021, Terry McAuliffe lost Virginia Beach and the Governor’s office to Glenn Youngkin, who is from the area.
“Having the Women's Summit here, hosted by network NOVA is so important, because it really highlights the vital importance of winning the city of Virginia Beach and waging this guerrilla warfare trench warfare,” Hawkins added.
Virginia Beach has typically swung red over the decades but in recent years on the local level Democrats have scored a few unexpected wins — albeit by close margins. The rise of Trump Republicanism has led to political battles focused on local elections but also it’s been a cause for motivation for operatives on the left.
“With a very regressive, very bombastic, very socially disruptive MAGA Republican culture in the city of Virginia Beach: MAGA reigns supreme in Virginia Beach. You have some country club Republicans but they pale in comparison to the MAGA Republicans that are down here,” Hawkins feather explained.
Hawkins, who is also retired from the Air Force, went on to highlight the campaigns of Del. Kelly Fowler, the narrow 115-vote defeat of former Del. Alex Askew (who is running in 2023) by Republican Del. Karen Greenhalgh and the campaigns of former Delegates Nancy Guy and Cheryl Turpin as evidence that the true political battleground in Virginia is in Virginia Beach.
LUCAS, LOCKE, KING FEATURED. On September 17, Network NOVA’s Women Summit featured several Black elected officials and candidates.
Because Virginia Beach features one of the hottest and closely watched congressional races in the country — Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria vs. Republican State Senator Jennifer Kiggans — speakers focused on national issues but with a local edge. Predictably, the June 24 overturning of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision and the right-to-chose was mentioned often.
Another issue mentioned by summit speakers was the overall treatment of women in politics, the party and in the press. State Senator Mamie Locke mentioned a 2011 story in The Virginian-Pilot that rated the late Senator Yvonne Miller, State Senator Louise Lucas and Locke as inconsequential. Miller was the first Black woman in history to serve in both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate. Locke has been in the Senate since 2004 and Lucas since 1992.
“There was some concern about whether or not I would actually be able to Chair a Committee,” Locke, who is now the Senate Democratic Caucus Chair in the Virginia Senate, was formally the Mayor of Hampton, a member of the City Council and Professor at Hampton University.
”Give me a break. I was the Mayor of the city. But I can’t run a committee? We were told we had no power. No influence. No policy expertise. I was the Dean of a school but I had no policy influence?” Locke said.
State Senator Jennifer McClellan, referring to national politics, also mentioned that some would rather “burn down the party” than see a woman in charge.
“Because of you — because of Hampton Roads we took the majority. What did we do with it? We made generational progress on ever single issue,” McClellan said.
“Our children are on the ballot. Y'all know I'm a nerd. Proud nerd. Well, I have been taking a break from my nerd-dom to watch House of the Dragon, the Senator who represents parts of Richmond told the audience.
“There's a quote that’s been in my mind all morning… she who should have been Queen was passed over for her male cousin. Told her niece who had just been named heir to the Iron Throne: Men would rather burn the realm down than see see a woman ascend to the Iron Throne,” McClellan relayed.
“What happened in America — we had an opportunity to see a woman ascend to the White House. And what happened? They burned it down. They’re still trying to burn it down. They tried to burn down the Capitol. They're trying to burn down all of the rights that we fought for,” McClellan said.
Hampton Roads — birthplace of American democracy. Also the road to the majority in 2020. Unfortunately — the road to the majority in 2021 — is now the road to the majority this year and next year and every year,” McClellan surmised. McClellan’s profile has risen considerably after running for Governor in 2021.
As usual, whether or not Democrats can reclaim past victories in Virginia Beach will be contingent on turnout — particularly Black turnout. Many of their victories were related to the rise of Donald Trump and the rejection of him by moderate voters and never-Trump Republicans.
Though the media has failed to acknowledged it, Locke, along with House Minority Leader Don Scott, State Senator Louise Lucas and Congressman Bobby Scott, now make up the most powerful members of the Democratic Party in Virginia. Rep. Scott alone oversees billions of dollars as Chairman of the U.S. House Committee of Education and Labor.
The fact that the Trump wing of the Republican party has many candidates around the country publicly questioning the electoral process in the wake of former President Donald Trump falsely claiming a presidential election he lost by 7 million votes was stolen from him, has meant that many local candidates are featuring messages about “saving our demcoracy.” This messaging coincides with the rise to power of Black elected officials on the national and local level — with so many more Black candidates running in what some refer to as “the Obama wave” seen after his historic victory over Republican John McCain in 2008.
Other rising stars and influencers in Virginia Beach include Gary McCollum, City Councilman Aaron Rouse (who is running for the State Senate in 2023) and Pharrell Williams. McCollum just launched the Due the Right Thing PAC. Williams just announced a “block party” in Norfolk in November via his new creative advocacy group Mighty Dream. On March 26, 2021, Williams’ cousin, 25 year old Donovan Lynch, was killed by Virginia Beach Police Officer Solomon Simmons. Lynch’s father, Wayne Lynch, is suing Simmons.
Everyone knows that in the seven cities of Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News and Hampton) Black voters, and their level of enthusiasm and turnout, will be a crucial factor in 48 days. Since the majority of Black voters support Democratic candidates, Republican strategy often seeks to chip away on Democratic winning percentage to get at least 10 percent of Black voters — or make it more difficult to vote.
Youngkin earned a higher number of Black voters — 13 percent — than any Republican running for Governor in recent memory. The 2021 loss of all three Democrats statewide (Terry McAuliffe, Hala Ayala and Mark Herring) to Republicans Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Governor Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, has meant that Democrats will have to spend money on the ground game in a shifting media world where people are watching less traditional TV and getting their news from a myriad of sources.
Black voters will have to receive specific focus to reverse the 2021 trend.
That many municipal elections are now on the same day as the congressional ones also add an unpredictable air for election watchers. But a constant to watch, as usual, is Black turnout and enthusiasm 48 days from now.
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