Senator L. Louise Lucas Talks Brick Wall, Will Chase Write-In Assist Natan McKenzie? #Virginia
SPRINGFIELD, VA — State Senator L. Louise Lucas and a group of local Democrats came together in Springfield yesterday in the spirit of taking back the Virginia House in November and adding more bricks to their “blue wall” in the Virginia Senate.
Weeks after a competitive set of primaries that featured an unusually high number of competitive races after redistricting, the primary results have been certified and all eyes are on November. Virginia currently has a divided government with a Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican controlled House and Democrats in control of the State Senate. Led by Lucas, Democrats have their sights set on building the majority in the Senate and taking back the Virginia House Democrats controlled from 2019 to January 2021.
State Senator Lucas defeated State Senator Lionell Spruill on June 20 and is set to serve as the Senate Finance Chair should Democrats hold the majority in the Senate.
"We are ready to EXPAND our blue brick wall in this election. We need every Democrat in this Commonwealth engaged in our effort to hold the Senate and win back the House this November,” Lucas wrote on social media on July 6.
Attending yesterday’s event were Portsmouth Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke, Natalie Shorter, Karen Keys-Gamarra, Saddam Salim, Stella Pekarsky, Del. Candi King and her husband Prince William Sheriff candidate Josh King, former Speaker and current Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, State Senator Dick Saslaw, State Senator Jeremy McPike, State Senator Adam Ebbin, Del. David Bulova, Del. Elizabeth Guzman and State Senator Barbara Favola.
As Dr. Fergie Reid, Jr. likes to point out: Senate District 12 is a good example of why you run candidates in every seat. Few predicted that State Senator Amanda Chase would lose to former State Senator Glen Sturtevant. Chase barely lost by under 600 votes. Now Chase is saying she will run in the general with write-in campaign. Although Senate District 12 is considered to be a R+8 seat, Chase’s move may make things more competitive than they were expected to be. Natan Mackenzie is the Democratic nominee.
Though Sturtevant is a former State Senator he barely defeated Chase by 369 votes. There was a third candidate in the race as well who received 22 percent of the vote Now with Chase saying she will operate a write-in campaign it could benefit Mackenzie. Write-in campaigns are typically unsuccessful but the dynamics of new districts and possibly low turnout could result in an unexpected surprise. This is now a race to keep an eye on.
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