Winning 13th Senate District, November’s general election likely a shoo-in

She is now considered the odds-on favorite to win the Nov. 7 general election where she will face long-shot Republican Eric Ditri in the heavily Democratic district. Her win represents an important political comeback for the former Petersburg delegate, who served three terms in the General Assembly before suffering an upset loss in 2021 to the current Petersburg-area delegate, Kim Taylor.

“I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support,” Ms. Aird said in her victory address. “It is truly a testament to our community and to our Commonwealth that I am standing here on this stage.

“As we set our sights beyond our victory tonight, I’m ready to hit the ground running,” Ms. Aird continued. “In Richmond, I’ll be a firewall for our reproductive rights in the face of Republican extremists who think they have the right to make decisions about our own bodies.”

A first-term senator, Sen. Morrissey was one of five members of the upper chamber of the General Assembly who were ousted in the primary contests, the most in 24 years, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Among the losers was a notorious archconservative Republican, Chesterfield County state Sen. Amanda F. Chase, the self-described “Trump in heels,” who narrowly lost to former state Sen. Glen H. Sturtevant Jr. in a race that included another conservative, Tina Ramirez.

Ms. Aird’s victory was part of a banner night for Black candidates, women and other non-white candidates.

In an apparent record, Black candidates won six of the 15 Democratic nomination contests for Senate seats and 11 of the 16 Democratic nomination contests for House of Delegate seats, with eight of the House winners assured of election as they have no challenger in the Nov. 7 general election. No Black candidates won a Republican primary.

“We had a good night,” said Richmond state Sen. Lamont Bagby, who won his own Democratic primary in the 14th Senate District while cheerfully noting other winners who are now on track to join the 21-member Virginia Legislative Black Caucus that he chairs and add to the group’s political influence.

“We went into this election with a goal of increasing our membership by 25 percent,” or at last five seats, said Sen. Bagby, who easily defeated his challenger, campus minister Katie Gooch, by winning majorities in 72 of the 75 precincts in the Richmond/Henrico district.

He said the results indicate that the Caucus will achieve a net gain of at least five members, with the potential to add even more new members once results are in for the Nov. 7 general election.

The thumping he received could be the last hurrah for Sen. Morrissey, 65, a twice disbarred criminal attorney whose checkered and colorful record includes being the first General Assembly member to commute to the legislature on work-release from the jail where he was serving a 90-day sentence.

It was second straight embarrassing election loss for the senator, who also trailed far behind now U.S. Rep. Jennifer L. McClellan in the intra-party contest in late December that was held to fill the 4th Congressional District seat after the death of the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin.

After conceding to Ms. Aird, the controversial lawmaker told reporters he is bowing out of politics.

“I want to congratulate my opponent and her family,” said the senator, who also has been engulfed in a bitter, highly publicized divorce while seeking re-election.

“I’m moving on to my next chapter in my life, I want to be a full-time dad and coach to all my kids,” said the senator, who began his political career in 1989 when he successfully ran for Richmond commonwealth’s attorney.

“I cannot see running for office ever again.”

Ms. Aird, who raised twice as much money as Sen. Morrissey and had virtually the entire state Democratic Party united behind her, said she never took anything for granted given Sen. Morrissey’s reputation as a relentless campaigner.

As part of her strategy, she used his own words against him, particularly his statements on abortion that he aired on the radio talk show he hosts in which he expressed pride in being “prolife” and also talked up his willingness to vote with Republicans on imposing a ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In late March, the six state Democratic women senators endorsed Ms. Aird and issued unusually harsh criticism of their colleague, hammering him for what they described as his out-of-step position on abortion and his history “of divisive and destructive actions.

“Sen. Morrissey has a long history of being on the wrong side of the values that matter to Virginia’s Democratic votes,” the Senate Democratic Women’s Caucus wrote. “His public behavior has, for years, drawn attention to himself rather than to the needs of his constituents.”

“Never has it ever been done that the women in elected office rebuke a colleague but it had to be done,” Ms. Aird told her supporters Tuesday night.

“I stand before you and commit to not only fight to protect our reproductive rights but all of those things that I talked about: Our schools, our communities, making every single family feel valued. They deserve that. This will be the power of electing responsible leadership. That is what it will look like.”

Sen. Morrissey’s defeat was also a victory for abortionrights supporters, who heavily backed Ms. Aird, who supports the party’s renewed priority of preserving abortion access.

In a statement, Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said the voters of the district “were loud and clear.

“They demand to be represented by an outspoken advocate for reproductive rights,” Ms. Lockhart stated.

In another closely watched primary between two veteran Hampton Roads Democrats, Portsmouth state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, 79, triumphed over Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr., 76.

Known for her combative and occasionally offbeat Twitter presence, Sen. Lucas posted an image of herself Tuesday night with boxing gloves and the text: “MOMMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT!”

In Northern Virginia, two senate veterans were unseated, George L. Barker and J. C. “Chap” Petersen. Sen. Barker lost to Fairfax County School Board member Stella Pekarsky while Sen. Petersen lost to financial reporting consultant Saddam Azlan Salim, who emigrated with his family from Bangladesh as a child.

In other races of note, former Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, who ran for governor in 2021, gained political redemption in winning in the 33rd Senate District in Prince William and Fairfax County. She defeated Hala Ayala, a former delegate and 2021 candidate for lieutenant governor.

Two other incumbent senators appear to have survived tough challenges, Sen. Creigh Deeds in the 11th Senate District in the Charlottesville area and Jeremy McPike in the 27th Senate District in Prince William County.

Hanover residents hopeful after Virginia Supreme Court’s Wegmans ruling

2020. The plaintiffs were denied the right to make that case when the Hanover Circuit Court declared they lacked standing because they had failed to meet a requirement to demonstrate “particularized harm.”

This past February, the state Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court after finding that “the allegations of particularized harm made by the homeowners are fairly traceable to the Board’s 2020 decision.” Last month the court refused a request from Wegmans to reconsider the decision.

Chris French is a member of Protect Hanover who “lives about a mile as the crow flies away from the Wegmans facility” in Mechanicsville. He believes this decision is an important one.

“It does a lot. The state Supreme Court does not pick up any case willy nilly. They only pick up cases that have impact across the entire state of Virginia,” he said by telephone. “The citizens of the Commonwealth now have greater access to the courts when it comes to land use decisions.”

That’s important, especially for minority communities that have often been particularly harmed by patterns of locating industrial and public infrastructure projects in their backyards.

The Brown Grove community was founded about 150 years ago and many living there now are descendants of Caroline Dobson Morris, a midwife nicknamed the “mother of Brown Grove,” who settled there after being freed from enslavement. These residents saw the Wegmans deal as just one more that would be detrimental to their health and their quality of life, pointing to past decisions such as the routing of Interstate 95 through Brown Grove in the 1950s and 1960s, which split the community in half. Since then a landfill, a concrete plant, an airport and a

Free COVID-19 vaccines

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Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd. com.

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh. virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testingsites. Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations: truck stop off the nearby highway have also been built.

• Thursday, June 22, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., Bivalent Moderna boosters for ages 6 and older, Bivalent Pfizer boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, JYNNEOS shots and Moderna/Pfizer baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

• Wednesday, June 28, 2 to 4 p.m. - Henrico West Health Department, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive, Bivalent Moderna boosters for age 6 years and older, Bivalent Pfizer boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, JYNNEOS shots and Moderna/Pfizer baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh. virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682). VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received. RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 2053501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for ages 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for ages 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts also offer bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

Ms. Harris says issues of dust, traffic congestion, road accidents and pollution the community already faces would be exacerbated further by Wegmans distribution center.

“Our history in Brown Grove is a history of dispossession of our land, dismissal of our opinions, defeat and oppression,” she added.

But now residents are hopeful of a different outcome.

When reached by phone for comment, the plaintiffs’ attorney Brian Buniva said “it was a glorious day” when the court ruled in favor of his clients and he is confident about their chances going forward.

“What is likely to happen is that the court will have no choice but to declare the rezoning was unlawful on at least two of the eight counts we have brought. That would mean starting over with the Board of Supervisors to obtain approval.”

Mr. Buniva added that several things could impact the chances of a different result should that happen, including recent elections, the death of the board’s longest serving member Aubrey M. “Bucky” Stanley, Jr. in December 2021, and the fact that Brown Grove has since been recognized as a rural historic district by the state and designated a National Historic Landmark.

Ms. Harris said one of the reasons Brown Grove fought for this historic designation is because “what Wegmans’ lawyers and Hanover County were saying is, ‘No, that’s not a Black community, it’s a white community so there’s no environmental justice protections in that area.

“We’re hopeful now that we have national recognition,” she added. “We’re telling the truth about how Hanover County has treated the community and it may be uncomfortable for them, but now we do have their attention. Now the Hanover officials are engaging with the community as a partner in their plans for the community. We hope that we continue to head in the right direction.”

As for whether or not Wegmans will be able to open on schedule, it is unclear. An email request for comment from the grocery giant was not returned. But Mr. French said should the residents be successful as they hope, Wegmans bears the responsibility for the decision to build while there were legal challenges ongoing.

“They chose to ignore everybody. They chose to go at it on their own with the viewpoint that they would be victorious,” he said. “If they lose, they made a very risky business decision and they have to pay the consequence of that decision.”

Kenya Gibson begs RPS Board to act quickly to curtail violence among students

School Board. Nor should the board be too quick in approving proposals to tackle this issue without a plan.

“This should not be a reactive conversation,” Nicole Jones said. “This is a conversation that should be happening on a regular basis because these are the situations that our young people are dealing with every day.”

“What goes on in the neighborhood, the community spills over into school,” Dawn Page said. “I do not want to make a hasty decision.”

In pushing against the reluctance of some board members to quickly implement proposed solutions and ideas, Ms. Gibson’s voice filled with emotion as she urged immediate action.

“We must make a hasty decision,” Ms. Gibson said. “We have had a student die, and we are going to sit on this stage and say ‘I’m not going to make a hasty decision’?”

Soon after, Ms. Gibson introduced a motion for the board to hire a safety auditor that failed 2-7, with only Ms. Gibson and Mr. Young voting in favor.

As noted by board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras has 30 days from the shooting to complete an internal investigation about the shooting. RPS also has hired John W. Beazley as the new director of safety and security. Further discussion about his role is scheduled for the next School Board meeting.

Board members also approved new names for Ginter Park Elementary School, John B. Cary Elementary, Binford Middle

School and George Wythe High School during Monday’s meeting to remove the schools’ association with their current, Confederate or slave-owning namesakes. Ginter Park Elementary will be renamed Frances W. McClenney Elementary. Mrs. McClenney’s name replaced Northside Elementary as the initial choice for Ginter Park. That choice had previously led to some contentious discussion during the School Board meeting weeks earlier, given Mrs. McClenney’s role in the clustering of white students in integrated schools decades earlier.

John B. Cary Elementary is now Lois Harrison-Jones Elementary. Dogwood Middle is the new name for Binford Middle.

George Wythe High is now the Richmond High School of the Arts.

Approval looms for city’s revamped budget

property, with the proceeds credited to a special fund that could be used over and over again for that purpose, the information states.

The ordinance also provides for the city to set aside nearly $1.8 million to cover potential unfunded liabilities, most notably the cost of health care for retirees too young to quality for Medicare, which Council Vice President Kristen M. Nye, various increased expenses for 15 of the 45 departments and entities that are funded through the city’s general fund.

For example, the Fire Department is to receive $2.9 million to cover the extra overtime paid to firefighters to ensure proper staffing of stations and trucks, while the Office of Elections is to gain $1 million to recoup the costs of holding the two special elections that resulted from the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin’s death last November. The Department of Parks and Recreation is to gain $1.8 million to handle various increases in expenses that came up this year.

One surprise, the administration is not proposing any new investment in the city Department of Social Services, despite state findings that the short-handed staff’s ability to process applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefit programs is well below the standards the state has set.

Another surprise, two other shorthanded public safety departments, Police and the Sheriff’s Department, apparently already have sufficient funding to cover their overtime costs. Neither is receiving any additional funds.